Daring Do and the Trials of Zenith

Chapters

Los Pegasus, 1932
Streets, Skies, and Trolleys
Dr. Daring Do
Meeting the Team
Trouble
Village
Inside the Temple
Trenchoof
The First and Second Trials
The Boulder Run
Fangs and Beaks
The Ball Court
Betrayal
Finale!

Los Pegasus, 1932

The soda was good. Not good in the sense of it being of much nutritional value, but it tasted good. The refined, sugary sweetness with the bite that was signature of Canter-Cola combined in a pleasurable taste. No wonder she was addicted to this stuff. Next to the glass bottle still half-full of soda was a plate containing a slice of pizza. The cheese was melted over the top of the tomato sauce, and the crust had a golden tone to it. The mare sitting at the table picked up the pizza slice with one hoof, and took a bite from the pointed end.

It wasn't every day this mare got to relax and enjoy a meal like this for lunch. She had quite a hectic life, and in this day and age it was uncommon to be able to afford the trip to an eating establishment. Such was not the case with this particular pony. She had suffered some losses when the depression struck, but she was currently juggling two different jobs and taking on extra tasks to make ends meet. It was rewarding and kept her out of poverty, but boy was it stressful.

Daring only wished that she could be stress-free. The golden-yellow pegasus was trying to make the most of her meeting, enjoying a bite to eat at the picnic table in the park. She felt a feeling of dread for when the other party would arrive, but until they showed themselves she was content to sit and eat her lunch, and watch the dragonflies zip over the reflective surface of a small pond.

The hat Daring wore kept the sun out of her eyes, which she was glad of in the hot noontime sun. She had been places where the heat was unbearable, and sweat had been pouring down her face. Here in the middle of a park in Los Pegasus it seemed almost relaxing. The hat sitting atop her head also fit in with most of the other ponies. She wore a fedora, with a light ivory color to it and a brown ribbon going across the base. It had a different feel than her pith helmet. The fedora was more of a civilian hat, one that she could wear around in public. After all, what good was a pith helmet in the streets of Los Pegasus?

Daring had finished her slice of pizza and began working on downing the rest of the soda left in the bottle when she saw somepony approaching from across the parks lawn. Daring sat up straight, lowering the tinted lenses she wore to be able to see the stallion clearly.

He was tall, and he was an earth pony as far as she could tell. His hat made it hard to tell, as there may very well have been a unicorn's horn beneath the black homburg he wore atop his head. The pony had a steel colored coat, and his cutie mark was simply a black briefcase. This stallion made his way over to where Daring Do sat at the picnic table, and upon arriving he placed a large briefcase down onto the wooden table. They stood for a few moments, both looking at each other through their own sunglasses. Daring was the one that broke the silence.

"Well, do you have it?" asked Daring, making an upwards turning motion with her head. The intercourse was light enough to any casual observer who may have seen the two ponies. It may have seemed like an exchange of money between two business ponies, but the actual purpose of the interaction was not as innocent. The tension was as thick as rolling fog as Daring and the stallion looked at each other's face, unable to see the eyes of the other through the lenses of their respective shades.

"Miss Daring, a pleasure to finally meet you," the stallion replied, tipping his black homburg before returning it to his head. He was an earth pony after all, it seemed.

"Doctor, actually," corrected Daring, clearing her throat. "I got my degree in '29, actually. Probably just in time, all things considered." She didn't trust the stallion, and he didn't trust her, that much was obvious.

"Well, Dr. Do then. I stand corrected," the stallion said. He did not open the briefcase, nor did he seat himself. He simply stood over the table, casting a shadow in the afternoon light over Daring's face.

"It seems that a few of my colleagues came into possession of something of yours, Dr. Do," remarked the stallion, tapping the top of the briefcase. Daring looked up at him skeptically.

"That's one way to put it," Daring said coldly, "Though it leaves out the part of breaking and entering, and theft from the Canterlot Museum of History."

"Yes, quite," said The stallion, coughing. He spoke with a light voice, as if he was trying to come off as a benevolent pony, and steering clear of the crime lord he and Daring both knew he was.

"The tablet in question is safe and secure, have no worries," the stallion assured, leaning in close to speak quietly to Daring, "You have to realize, though... times are tough, Dr. Do. It would be a shame for me to simply hoof it over. My colleagues require.... compensation."

"How much are you talking about?" Daring asked, speaking with a hushed voice, but purposely giving a stern quality. The stallion was trying to act like he was clean, and that he didn't have some kind of nasty surprise for her if she wasn't willing to pay up. Daring could see through this facade. She knew what kind of a sleazy and corrupt pony she was dealing with.

"Thirty Thousand bits, Dr. Do. No less," answered the stallion, nodding. From somewhere behind her, Daring heard the tell-tale click of a firing pin being drawn back. That wasn't a good sign.

"Who says I carry that much on me? I can give you twenty, and then once you give me the tablet I can go and get another five. Twenty Five thousand bits in all," said Daring, keeping a straight face.

"I'm not open to haggling, Dr. Do. Either you pay the thirty thousand up front, or we walk away with the tablet. It's your choice," the stallion said, giving Daring a false smile.

Daring considered this for a moment. She wasn't being given any option to work around the price this pony was setting. What a shame it was, too. It was rightfully the Museum's piece, yet they were having to pay for it like black market criminals in order to get it back. Daring didn't like that. She had been given strict instructions not to "try anything funny" or do something that might place the tablet into jeopardy. She weighed her options for a second, biting her lower lip.

"Alright, I'll give you the money in full," said Daring, "but I need to see that you actually have the tablet first." She emphasized her last point strongly. She couldn't just fork over that much currency without being sure that she would receive the real deal. That was the main reason she had been chosen to facilitate this exchange, as she had been the one to recover the artifact in the first place.

"Alright, Dr. Do. We can do it your way," the stallion said, sighing. He bent over the briefcase, and pressed on a button with his free hoof. Daring heard a clicking sound as the briefcase lock was released, and slowly the stallion lifted the top, revealing what was inside the briefcase.

"I would recommend not trying to grab it, Dr. Do. You have three guns pointed at you from various directions, and I'd rather not make this exchange messy," whispered the stallion. Daring leaned in to look closely at the item inside the briefcase. It was made of a smooth stone, and had inscriptions on it in a very old form of her language. She could see the weathering on the very bottom from the edges of the container she had found the item in. The tablet was indeed authentic. Daring backed away, looking back at the stallion standing over the table. She cleared her throat, and pushed herself out of the seat part of the picnic table, scraping her legs against the wood and planting all four hooves on the concrete walking path. She heard several clicks from different directions, which she could identify as weapons being armed. They really didn't trust her, did they?

"Yes," Daring said, taking off her hat. Curled up inside was a small canvas sack, which she placed on the table carefully. One could hear the clinking sound commonly associated with coins moving about and striking each other. The pony wearing the black homburg grinned, his face lighting up upon seeing the bag.

"In this sack is five thousand bits," said Daring. She opened up the sack and spilled several of the gold coins out onto the wood before scooping them back into the sack from which they came. The other pony was beginning to furrow his brows, but lightened up again as Daring reached into her over-the-shoulder bag, and produced a much larger sack. A similar light clinking sound could be heard from within that bag, only slightly louder.

"Here's the other twenty five," Daring said, placing both bags next to each other. There was silence for a few moments, as both ponies looked at each other through shaded lenses. Then, the pony with the black homburg closed up the briefcase, and carefully pushed it over to Daring. Daring nodded, and scooped up the briefcase, carefully slipping it's bulky form into her bag for easier transportation.

"Don't you guys ever think about pulling this crap again," said Daring, with a harsh voice. She turned sharply, and began walking away down the cement path and disappearing out of sight from the stallion. She had left the remains of her lunch behind.

There were a few moments of silence, and then a turquoise pegasus pony dropped down from the branches of a nearby oak tree, hoof still stuck into the enlarged trigger guard.

"Jeez Ted, take that thing off before you blow somepony's eye out," said the stallion wearing the homburg. The pegasus (apparently named Ted) shook his head as he landed in the neatly trimmed grass of the park's lawn, and slipped his hoof out of the gun's trigger guard. He slipped it into the holster belt he had strapped around his flank, and walked towards the grayish stallion with the hat.

"Well chief, how did we make out?" Ted asked, pointing to the canvas sacks on the table. The head stallion pressed the sacks, letting Ted hear the recognizable sounds of coinage.

"Thirty Thousand all together," said the grinning stallion, "Split between all of us, that would be about Seventy-Five Thousand apiece. Not bad for this day and age, hm?"

"Yeah," remarked Ted, with a distracted edge in his voice. He pressed at the bag, feeling it with one of his scarlet hooves. He was getting a really bad feeling in his gut.

"Chief, mind if I take a peek inside?" Ted asked. The stallion shook his head.

"No, wait for the others to get here," he said. He spoke too soon, as moments later a yellow stallion and a forest green mare stepped out from the bushes, walking towards the other two ponies. Both had gun holsters on their belts similar to the one Ted had, and the guns were inside of their respective holsters.

"Hey Chief, we wanna take a gander at those bits," demanded the yellow stallion, who wore a white fedora over his mess of brownish mane. It seemed he shared sentiments with Ted, and the mare wasn't saying very much to stop either of them.

"Alright, alright," the head stallion agreed, untying the knot in the top of the larger sack and spilling some of it's contents out onto the table. He looked right at the two stallions, and pointed to the open mouth of the sack.

"There's your bits," he said with a smug look on his face. The other ponies including the mare did not seem amused at all, and looked from the open sack to the pony wearing the homburg with confused expressions.

"What's the matter? Not enough for you all?" the stallion asked with a stern voice. Ted shook his head, and an angry look came over his face. He stoop up and looked right into the sunglasses that he knew his boss' eyes were behind.

"Well Chief, that's a lot of currency, but just what are you expecting us to be able to do with metal washers?" asked Ted. Upon hearing the words 'metal washers' the homburg-wearing stallion looked down at the open sack with shock. Sure enough, instead of bright golden coins spilling out, all he saw were flat steel-colored rings. Useless as currency. An observer might have been able to see his face flush with embarrassment, but the embarrassment quickly evolved into anger until the pony almost seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"Curse you Daring Do! All three of you, find where that pony went. Put a bullet through her skull if you have to," grumbed the stallion in a state of fury, "but we must get that tablet back!"

Streets, Skies, and Trolleys

Daring was already to the street by the time the thugs had realized just what was going on. She had made sure she got out of there FAST once she was out of sight. Daring looked behind her, and saw a couple of ponies tearing through the park. They were onto her.

Daring wasted no time in slipping into a side alley. Now that she was outside the park and into the dense urban sprawl of downtown Los Pegasus, she might have an easier time of giving them the slip. She weaved in and out of back alleys and side streets, purposely making her path as erratic and unpredictable as possible. She came to a sudden stop, hooves grinding into the grit of the concrete as she saw somethign out of the corner of her eye. Down the alley she was about to go into was a yellow stallion wearing a white hat. He had a gun at the ready, pointed right at her. Daring reared back, as if she was about to turn around. The yellow pony jumped, and pulled his pistol to fire. A loud shot rang out, and the bullet pierced through the metal of a dumpster that had been behind Daring a moment before. Daring had taken to the skies, and was flying at full speed away from the alley above the tops of the low-lying buildings. Several shots rang out, but from this range they were inaccurate and soon Daring was far ahead of the yellow earth pony. She zoomed ahead, figuring that taking to the skies was the best way to get away quickly. Her eyes watered as they were met with the gusts of wind hitting her at this altitude, but she didn't mind. She was putting distance between herself and...

BANG!

The shot meant for her head missed only by a couple of inches, and blew a hole through the fedora she had been wearing. The shredded hat was blown off a moment later, falling down to earth below. Daring looked back. The shot had come from a turquoise pegasus, who was only several yards behind her. Daring gasped as he reloaded the gun, and leveled it to fire. Thinking fast, Daring suddenly stopped flapping her wings. The golden yellow pony took a nose dive, hurtling towards the ground. Behind and above her she could hear a gunshot, and the sound of a bullet whistling through the air, followed by some choice curse words. Ted readjusted, following Daring as she sped towards the ground. He reloaded his gun, taking his attention off the dive-bombing pony he was following for a moment to focus on the pin that he needed to pull back.

When he looked back up (well, down) Daring had moved. She was pointed downwards even steeper, going for a vertical drop. She was applying her wings by this point, putting more distance between herself and the thug pegasus. Ted swore, and zoomed closer. He wasn't going to miss this time, even if the ground was getting far too close. Coming up behind Daring, he pointed the gun towards the back of her head, and pulled on the trigger with his hoof. The gun went off, but Ted would never get the satisfaction of knowing if he had missed or not. The pegasus had crashed into the roof of a department store, and his neck was snapped by the sheer force of the sudden impact against solid cement.

Daring had pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book- the feint. Her pursuer was so intent on being the pony to collect the tablet that he hadn't focused on where she was leading him. Now flying more slowly and closer to the ground, Daring landed gracefully on the sidewalk. She still had her bags with her, and she had been careful not to bump the briefcase containing the tablet. That had to be returned in pristine condition.

Daring was now at a streetcar stop, and she waited to see if one was going to come by. Sure enough, a bright red trolley pulled up several moments later. There were no other passengers standing at the stop, and the street corner seemed deserted other than Daring herself. She shrugged, and boarded the trolley. Moments later, it took off at a leisurely pace down the streets of Los Pegasus.

"How's it going?" asked the operator cheerfully. She had a sky blue hat on, and a tannish-looking coat. She wore a friendly expression on her face, and made conversation with Daring as the trolley zoomed past the shops and stores on the side of the street.

"Alright, you?" replied Daring, not sure what to make up for an excuse of what she was doing, or why she was out of breath. She sat herself on one of the wooden benches, wiping a bead of sweat off from her forehead. She reached up to push the brim of her hat down, but remembered that it had been shot off. Oh well.

"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking," the trolley operator replied, "I figure I'm kinda lucky to have a job, given the whole economic mess. That puts me in a good mood, knowing how lucky I am. What's your name, kid?"

"Daring," Daring answered, gasping. Her heart was beating like a rabbit, and she took deep breaths.

"My name is Daring Do."

"Cool, Nice to meet you Daring," the trolley operator said. The car took a turn onto a different road as it followed the track in the ground that it ran on.

"What's with all the huffin' and puffin'?" asked the mare, looking back at Daring for a moment before turning back to watch the road ahead. Daring laughed nervously, before having the sudden urge to cough.

"Guess I just over-exerted myself for a moment. Not a good idea to go and fly at your top speed when you've just eaten lunch, know what I mean?" Daring said. The other pony shook her head.

"No, I'm a unicorn," she said, lifting up her hat briefly enough to show the whitish blonde mane and the tannish horn before placing the cap back on.

"Ah, then I guess you don't know what it's like to fly too fast. It feels sore, that's all," said Daring. She looked back at the street side slipping away. There were several different stores that she could pick out. There was one place that was selling various records, and it had a player outside of it blaring one of the more popular jazz pieces. Daring winced when she heard the song. It was popular, almost too popular. She had heard the same exact song on the radio at least three times a day for the past week, and she was pretty much sick of it. She had switched her desk radio to a different station, contenting herself to listen to political news and talk about Celestia's plan for dealing with the economic problems. At least that had two dissenting opinions, and was subject to change as the host ponies discussed. Daring squinted as she watched the store fronts slip by. There was a greenish mare running down the sidewalk, almost parallel to the trolley. In fact, she was chasing the trolley!

"Look out, there's somepony about to cause trouble!" Daring yelled to warn the driver. Almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, the greenish mare leaped into the car, planting one of her front hooves squarely into Daring's jaw. Daring reeled back, mouth smarting from the blow. She swung her body forward, tackling the mare, but she was met with a swift kick to the stomach. Daring doubled over, grunting as she writhed on the floor of the trolley. She could hear the trolley operator yelling, and she looked up from the floor to see the green mare taking the briefcase out of her bag. Daring snorted, picking herself up and charging at the mare. The pony was taken by surprise as Daring tackled her down, pinning her to the floor this time and slamming her hoof into her face multiple times. With each successive hit, the pony that Daring had pinned down struggled less and less, until Daring was sure that she was out. Daring stood over the unconscious mare, breathing heavily.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on?!" shouted the trolley operator, glaring at Daring Do. Daring shrugged, and scooped up the briefcase again. She jumped out of the trolley and onto the sidewalk, leaving the green thug lying slumped in one of the wooden seats of the trolley. Daring slipped the briefcase back into her bag, and took off down main street. She knew where she was now, and she didn't think that any of the other mooks would be messing with her. That homburg-wearing stallion said he had three minions, and she had shaken all three of them. She wasn't concerned about the stallion himself, as she would soon be out of town and on the next train back to Canterlot. She just had to get to her hotel room and clean up the cuts and bruises she had suffered, though. At least she had the tablet safe and secure.

Dr. Daring Do

The conference room had a crisp and clean feel to it. As Daring stepped into it, she could tell that she was in a well-maintained area. Of course, she was familiar with the tidiness of the office building that the curator used for the museum staff. Dusty Shelves was actually a bit of a neat freak, despite what his name implied. The navy-colored pony had an obsession with keeping all of his artifacts in order, which seemed to carry over into how he kept his work space.

"Glad to see you, Dr. Do," greeted Dusty, who sat in a chair on the opposite side of a wooden conference table, and adjacent to a blackboard. He didn't make eye contact with her right away, as he was shuffling through a stack of papers. As soon as he had finished and had the correct report on top of his stack he placed the papers down and looked at Daring. He motioned for her to seat herself, which she did.

Daring was dressed more like how one would expect a "Doctor" to dress. She wore wire-rim glasses, and had her blackish hair tied up in the back. She wore a whitish lightweight button-up vest rather than her pickle green one, and wore a red bow tie around her neck. This was how she dressed when representing herself officially, and to her credit an unsuspecting pony might not realize that the same mare was one who could trudge through thick jungles and enter tombs filled with years of decay without flinching.

"Dusty, we've known each other since I was fourteen," Daring remarked, "You don't need to call me by my title."

"I know, I know... but it rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Dr. Daring Do..."

"Dusty!"

"Well, I guess I'll get right to it," said Dusty Shelves, looking over the report. "Not only did you recover the artifact, but you only gave them five out of the thirty thousand we allotted for the exchange. That leaves us with twenty-five thousand bits. Now, we had planned on spending much more on retrieving the artifact..."

"I may have... omitted the twenty five from the transaction, sir," Daring admitted.

"It seems I'm out of washers, though." Upon hearing this, Dusty coughed, not sure whether to be angry or to laugh. He regained his composure a minute later, however.

"Well, we already took the money out of the budget," said Dusty, sliding a paper over to where Daring sat. Daring looked at the paper quizzically. On it was typed some basic information about flights and deadlines, scheduled for the following week.

"What's this?" asked Daring, "I think you gave me the wrong paper. These are flight plans, not a budget sheet."

"I'm aware, Dr... I mean Daring," Dusty said. He stood himself up, pacing about the length of his office. He spoke as he did so, and Daring listened intently.

"We already pulled the funding out and made necessary arrangements, so we might as well put the extra to good use. We've got another trip ready for you, Daring. That is, if you're up to it," Dusty Shelves said, turning to face Daring as he finished the last sentence. Daring nodded her head emphatically.

"Of course!" exclaimed Daring, furrowing her eyebrows while grinning. "I'm always up for a challenge! What's the deal with this one?"

"Well, I want to know what you know about a couple of things first," Dusty continued. He went towards the blackboard, and raised his hoof up. Above the blackboard was a set of maps, and he pulled one down. Daring recognized it as the European continent across the Anterlic ocean from Equestria's East Coast. The countries were all the ones she had learned the names of many times over. Prance, Gryphony, Carpathia, and many more. Her attention was drawn to Gryphony as Dusty pointed a hoof at the country.

"What about Gryphony? Are you asking me about their history?" Daring asked. Dusty shook his head.

"Then you mean the current political situation?" asked Daring. This time Dusty nodded in the affirmative.

"Alright," Daring started, tapping her forehead as she thought. "I know that the treaty that ended the War had provisions that would keep Gryphony unified in a fair political system that was rule by popular vote. But last year the population voted in Guenther, and then they wanted to make him the emperor and throw out the democratic system."

"They succeeded," said Dusty, shaking his head. "I'm afraid to think of this, but I think we're going to have to watch out for the Gryphons."

"You mean the ones from Gryphony, right?" Daring said, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course that's what I mean. The ones that live within Equestria got their citizenship fair and square. No, I'm just afraid of what this new government across the pond might..."

"Jeez, Dusty!" Daring exclaimed, shaking her head and laughing. "Calm down. Nothing's gonna happen. They're just trying to get back on their hooves after being knocked down like the rest of us... or would that be claws?"

"I guess..." said Dusty, biting his lower lip. He didn't seem at all eased.

"Anyways, the Gryphons have a team down in South Equestria looking for Zenith. Are you familiar with Zenith?" continued Dusty.

"What self-respecting archaeologist isn't?" Daring joked, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, connected with the legends of the ancient civilizations, right? It's supposedly the place where a bunch of ponies would compete whenever one of the kings died, and they had to choose a new one."

"The Gryphons seem to think that Zenith actually exists. They're running around all over the place down there, with excavations and armed escorts and..." started Dusty, before Daring cut him off.

"Woah woah woah, hold up," said Daring, holding both of her hooves out in front of her. Dusty looked at her, raising one of his eyebrows this time.

"Do you mean to tell me they're going back on the military limits and sending in troops along with the diggers?" asked Daring, flabbergasted. "That's in direct defiance of..."

"That's the thing," Dusty remarked. "They're intent on finding Zenith, to the point where they've breached international treaty. Now, I know nopony wants to risk getting into another conflict, but I think it's in our best interest to find Zenith first. After all, it is pony history and not gryphon history buried there."

"So you want me to find Zenith?" said Daring, looking pensive. Dusty nodded, and motioned towards the paper that he had given her only a few minutes earlier.

"That's the information for when flights leave," said Dusty. He looked about him, suddenly remembering something important that he had forgotten. It was funny to watch how he behaved when he forgot something. He'd blush a little bit. For him it was a matter of pride to have things in order and to know where things were. When he did lose something, and if you were watching him, he'd get more and more frantic to find it the longer it remained lost. If he had to look for more than a minute he would get really worried, and begin to look in the same places twice in a desperate attempt to find what he had lost, and he might even have started groaning in frustration.

Fortunately for Dusty Shelves' pride, he found what he had been looking for rather quickly. He had two black and white photographs in a manila folder, which he slid out and placed in front of Daring. Daring looked at the photos carefully. She saw a stallion wearing what appeared to be a campaign hat and uniform from the World War era. He had an appearance about his eyes that made Daring believe that he was middle aged, perhaps a veteran of some kind? The other wore a brodie helmet over his head, and his eyes were obscured by a pair of large goggles.

"Who are these two?" asked Daring, looking at the photographs and cocking her head to one side. She hadn't met either of these ponies before.

"That's Sergeant Trenchoof, and that's Engineer Hammer. They're both veterans that work for the museum," Dusty answered, nodding his head as he spoke.

"They're down in South Equestria right now, I'd like you to rendezvous with them as soon as possible. They've been there for several months now, I'm sure they'll be able to give you information on Zenith based on their discoveries."

Daring listened. She had made up her mind long ago that this was something she had interest in. She had gotten her doctorate in archaeology, and Zenith was one of those places that was caught up heavily in several different ancient cultures of the region. Indeed, stories of the underworld and by extension Zenith were a major part of the mythos of the ancient pony civilizations she had studied extensively.

"I'll do it!" said Daring, accepting the mission. She was in for some more pay, and an expedition down to South Equestria's wild jungles sounded like just the change of scenery she needed from the gloomy mood of economic strife.

****

The street lamps cast a shimmering light on the road as the current of water ran downhill. The rain drove down in thick sheets, splashing against the already damp sidewalk and surrounding Daring with the sound of a deafening spatter. She counted the numbers on the houses on Wither's Terrace. The street overlooked another section of houses down below, and looped around to meet them on both sides. Right now she was reaching the flat area on top of the hill, where the houses had been constructed on both sides. Her house was number 9.

Through the driving rain, Daring squinted to see the number on the house to her right. A small "7" was nailed near the door. She knew where she was now, her house would be the next one on the right. She would have known it instinctively had it not been for the down pouring rain obscuring most of her sight.

When Daring entered her home, she was relieved to feel the dryness, relieved to be inside from the drenching precipitation. She was aware that she was still dripping, and so she hung up her coat on a hanger in the mudroom of her small house, and made her way over to her bathroom. Daring opened one of the cabinets, and reached inside to pull out a large cotton towel. She wrapped it around herself, rubbing it over herself to mop up the wetness. She rubbed it into her mane, in turn making it spike up in odd places. It was still wet, though at least now that she had patted it down it wasn't dripping. Daring picked up a comb and ran it through the front of her mane, flattening the random hair spikes and making it look more normal.

Once she felt dry, Daring walked into the main section of her house. She flicked on a light switch, and her living room was illuminated with bright lighting from overhead fixtures. She felt tired, as if her legs had given all they were capable of giving and she couldn't stand on them without being cruel to herself. She sat down on the maroon carpeting, gazing at the papers she had strewn across the floor. Daring wasn't much of a neat freak, and her office at work was proof of that. However, she had taken the time to organize the stacks of paper before she had left for Los Pegasus the previous night. It was a long train ride both ways, and she was lucky she had been able to make it to the conference rooms earlier that evening to return the artifact. Now she had several stacks of work to grade, from the students she taught classes to at the University. Professor Daring Do, they'd call her. She'd insist that they just refer to her as Daring, and some of the students did. But there were still several that refused to be informal with a professor, even if she was the youngest professor the college had ever had on staff.

Daring peered at the top of the nearest stack. The paper was titled "European Civilization in the Dark Ages" Daring frowned. She had expected that there were going to be several students who had chosen to do their reports on the medieval times, opting to take the easier route and do less research.

Why was she looking at the student's papers? She was in no rush to get them back. Besides, she wouldn't be at the University for several days. She had an expedition to go on. Daring slid the stack of paper off to one side of the living room as she supported herself with her other front leg. After getting the papers out of the way, Daring stood up onto all fours. There was the soreness again. She'd be quick, though. Daring had a set of maps lying on top of a nearby wooden coffee table. So much for organization. She spread the map out onto the carpet, and peered over to look for the location she was going to. The continent looked odd to her, tapering southwest and bulging at the end, with another protrusion branching off to the south. This wasn't South Equestria, she had grabbed a map of Europe!

Daring hastily swapped her European map out with one for South Equestria. Contrary to uninformed belief, South Equestria was not a part of "Equestria" the nation. Many foals had difficulty distinguishing from "Equestria" the pair of northern and southern continents and "Equestria" the nation that took up most of the northern continent, and the one that they resided in. Daring couldn't say she blamed them.

Spreading out the map, Daring referenced the sheet that Dusty Shelves had given her. She was to land in a city called Falabella by plane and then travel north all the way to Marchador City. She would rest there for a day, and then take transport to a specific village, whose name was not on the map of South Equestria. Daring shrugged to herself. She had some more time the following morning that she could try to pinpoint where she was heading.

The map of the continent had some areas on it that were circled. Daring had clipped scraps of notes to the map awhile back, and they cluttered it up. Indeed, the map was also covered in markings and paths drawn onto it by Daring herself as she had mapped out several expeditions in the area. The oldest marking dated to around 1925, which she had done in between semesters as a student. The most recent markings were around the eastern coast, where Daring had gone to find a statue made out of sapphire that had had been threatened by a gang of criminals. Ahuitzotl had given her a lot of trouble over the past year or so, since they had first crossed paths back in 1932. Just last year she had discovered his plans to pervert the usage of some ancient relics to meet his crime ring's needs and to bring himself more power. She sure hoped that he was going to stay away from this expedition to Zenith.

It seemed that the expedition was set in an area near the center, but branching off from the main river. The rain forest was something Daring didn't mind, in fact she enjoyed being out in the elements more than she enjoyed walking the streets of Canterlot. Out there she felt... alive and free. Nature didn't care what the economy looked like. It was a constant, ever-present force that Daring could appreciate. The pony sighed, and rolled up her map. She would have to look at it later. Perhaps her journals and other notes would give her something useful to ponder, but for now all Daring really wanted to do was to doze off...

Meeting the Team

The plane swiftly touched down on the landing strip, coming to a complete stop near the end of the strip. The pilot looked back, and gave Daring a signal. The archaeologist pony recognized it as clearance to leave, and so she stood up in her seat in the back of the cramped cargo aircraft, and pressed her hoof up against the door. The door fell back, swinging downwards and unfolding into a set of stairs. Daring stepped down the grated metal and onto the tarmac of the runway, her legs wobbling beneath her. As brave as she was, she didn't exactly like airplanes very much. Her flying instincts as a pegasus interfered with the sensations of the plane in flight, making it uncomfortable. In fact, the only reason she had agreed to take a plane in the first place was due to the convenience in scheduling. Had the trip down to the continent below her own not been as lengthy, she would have preferred to fly it herself, or at least take an airship. Alas, neither of those options had been practical, and it didn't matter anymore as she was at her destination. The bulk of the travel was behind her.

Daring was approached by an older looking pony wearing a campaign hat over his grayed mane. His coat was light brown in color, almost a caramel but slightly subdued with the dulling of age. He had a somewhat stern expression on his face, like that of a pony who had been hardened by past experiences. At least, that's what Daring read into it. The stallion began to speak, and Daring listened attentively.

"Greetings, you are Dr. Do I presume?" the stallion asked, looking at Daring's outfit. Daring wore her usual pickle green vest, and her beloved pith helmet topped her head. Both seemed peculiarly clean, however this was simply due to the fact that she had just arrived a moment ago. No doubt the heat and humidity would cause her to sweat profusely, but Daring didn't mind. She preferred digging and exploring the undisturbed forests to the boring drudgery of grading papers and giving lectures, as interesting as the subject matters were to her.

"You can call me Daring," replied Daring, "Daring Do at the most. I hear too much of this 'doctor' nonsense all week." The older pony shook his head.

"It's your title, but if you insist I can call you Daring," said the stallion, extending a hoof to shake hers. Daring met the hoof and shook it warmly.

"My name's Trenchoof. Sergeant Trenchoof," said the stallion, nodding. The two ended the handshake and began walking across the tarmac off to the side, where a rugged vehicle sat in a parking area. Once there, Daring was greeted by another pony, this time a mare. This particular pony looked slightly odd. She had a darkish gray coat, and a flowing lemon-colored mane. Her eyes were a bright amber, and her eyelashes appeared to be carefully arranged, which was odd for a pony going on some kind of an archaeological expedition. The mare also wore several accessories, including a pair of goggles pushed up on her forehead, a grayish cadet cap, a white vest with brass buttons, and four rubber hoof covers, evidently for walking through muck.

"This is Dr...." started Trenchoof, but he was cut off by the mare he was introducing. She turned around, eyes widening as she saw Daring Do and Sergeant Trenchoof approaching, almost like she had been caught like a foal stealing cookies. She recovered and regained her composure in an instant, extending her hoof and smiling at Daring.

"Stiflehock," the mare said, nodding in a way that made her bright yellow mane bounce in the back, "My first name's Elise. Elise Stiflehock."

"Pleasure to meet you Dr. Stiflehock," said Daring, nodding. She saw the other two ponies standing in front of her, and a few others working around the vehicle to get it ready. She couldn't find the other pony, the engineer.

"Where's Engineer Hammer?" Daring asked, still looking around. She noticed Trenchoof exchange glances with Elise, almost as if he didn't really know how to field her question.

"Well," the sergeant started, "We haven't been able to find Engineer Hammer as of recent. You see, we've been having some problems with raiders."

"We think that Engineer Hammer may have been taken prisoner by one of the groups of raiders," continued Elise, picking up where Trenchoof had left off, "Until such time that we can find him, we must be on high alert of these raiders."

"Eesh." Daring stated simply, shaking her head. She observed the vehicle they were to be using. It was a truck, with large rubber wheels and an internal combustion engine. Those kind of vehicles were uncommon in Equestria, where carriages and taxis were pulled by the drivers themselves. Trains and streetcars were one thing, but to ride in a self-propelled truck was something of a novelty.

"I see you've noticed our method of transport, yes?" Elise said, tapping a rubber-covered hoof on the metal door of the truck, "This is a custom-fitted truck made specifically for the expedition. This thing will go over potholes and through muddy trails like they were no impedance at all."

"Why an internal combustion engine?" asked Daring, "Most ponies don't use 'em." Elise shrugged, and then Trenchoof coughed. He looked from the truck to Daring to the trees at the edge of the clearing the airstrip sat in. There was a beaten road that lead out of the clearing and into the dense jungle, which Daring took to be the road they would be taking.

"Well, the terrain is such that we'd either have to walk, or use this. Carriages would not be sufficient where we're travelling," explained Trenchoof in a stern voice, "I think you'll find that once we get armed guards situated in the back of the truck, we won't be bothered too much by these raiders." He motioned to several ponies who wore khaki vests and brodie helmets left over from the war era. They were equipped with used Equestrian military weapons, which were currently slung over their shoulders. Whoever the raiders were that had been harassing the team, they were being dealt with seriously.

Daring slung her bag over her shoulder, and hopped into the back of the truck. As she did so, Trenchoof and Elise were quick to join, and a different pony entered the truck from the driver's side, slamming the door shut behind him. It was time to get going, and Daring couldn't help but wonder what had gone on during the raids and attacks that had driven the team to these measures, and who- or what- had perpetrated them.

****

The afternoon wore on, but Daring found things to occupy herself. For hours they had been on the river, truck sitting atop a large cabinless boat. Daring had contented herself to watch the lush jungle drift by on the shore as they floated down the mighty river. That had gotten old pretty fast, for as diverse and vivid as the rain forest was, a pony could only stare at it for so long. What Daring needed was something to occupy her time, and so she took a deck of playing cards out from her vest pocket.

Daring was familiar with many card games. Her favorites were those that could be played with a group of friends with a mild amount of gambling involved. At the moment that wasn't an option for her, as most of the other ponies who were on the boat were either sleeping or wandering about completing minor tasks and maintenance. Daring shuffled the cards in the deck, striking them against the deck of the boat and then proceeding to make small piles going from her left side to her right. She left one card turned face-up at the very bottom of each pile. The rest of the deck was moved and placed above the piles. Daring amused herself by playing a game of cards for several minutes until Elise stood in front of her. The bright afternoon sun was obscured by Elise and left a dark shadow over Daring's card game, causing the pony to blink a couple of times before looking up at the other mare.

"What are you playing?" asked Elise, lifting up her cap and scratching her yellowish mane. She leaned back and her shadow moved with her, sending the light of the sun into Daring's eyes and causing her to squint.

"Patience," Daring replied, rubbing her eyes and looking downwards. There was a dark spot in the middle of her field of vision left over from the sudden glare of the sun. She shook her head, trying to make the spot fade faster. Daring turned back to her game of cards when she could see properly again, starting to match cards in similar suites with the next one lowest. A moment after that Elsie spoke up again.

"Well, are you going to ever tell me?" Elise asked again. Daring looked up, this time lowering the brim of her pith helmet to shield her eyes as she looked at the other mare.

"No, I don't think you understood me," Daring said, "Patience is the name of the game. Maybe you know it as Klondike instead? It's a type of solitaire..."

"OH!" exclaimed Elise, striking the deck with one hoof, "That game. Alright I hear ya now. Hey listen, we've got a meeting in five minutes over by the back of the truck, Sarge has some stuff he wants to go over. I just thought I ought to let you know."

With that, Elise trotted off to the edge of the boat, sitting herself down. Daring observed the mare as she splashed the water idly and dipped her hooves into the current. No doubt it was her way of amusing herself during the trip, but it made Daring shake her head.

"Hey Stiflehock!" called out Daring, craning her neck up so her voice could project to where Elise was sitting on the edge, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

"Why not?" was Elise's reply, "I'm just dipping my hooves in the water, no harm in that!" Daring shook her head once again upon hearing this and lifted herself up, walking over to the edge of the boat where Elise was.

"Tell me," said Daring, "Have you ever heard of the Piranha?" Elise shook her head no, and Daring nodded slowly.

"Well the Piranha is a type of fish that swims in these waters- they're mean and vicious. They have a fondness for eating flesh. They're short and deep bodied, but they've got an undershot set of jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth just waiting to gnaw into, well, whatever they come across that has some meat on its bones."

Elise grimaced, and quickly pulled her hoof out of the water. One could almost see her face pale, and Daring threw back her head, laughing out loud.

"You should see the look on your face!" Daring exclaimed amid a spurt of laughter, "I'm sorry, that's a bit mean of me, but the timing on that was perfect!" As Daring continued laughing, Elise's brows furrowed, and she looked embarrassed and angry at the same time.

"So you mean to tell me that that was just a big sick joke?" she sputtered as she glared at Daring. Daring shook her head as her laughter subsided and she took on a more serious tone.

"No, I was being completely serious. Piranhas actually do exist and they actually do eat flesh. However, unless you're bleeding right now I think you'll be alright. We are on a big boat after all- but don't go swimming around willy-filly on your own or you might get eaten." Daring explained. She hadn't meant that stuff about piranhas to be a trick to make Elise react strongly. She had almost lost a member of another crew to a piranha attack. That colt was lucky they only took off one of his ears and another chunk from his flank. That had been a scary experience for Daring when they had to carry the injured colt on their backs through the jungle to the nearest fishing village to find a surgeon capable of treating him. It was late at night, and his terrified screams had left an impression on her about the dangers of wild carnivores. But that was no matter now- she had a meeting to get to with Trenchoof.

****

The three ponies gathered near the aft end of the truck, which was situated close to the stern end of the ship that carried them down the river. Sergeant Trenchoof had a map of the area propped up against the bed of the truck and was drawing in lines with a black permanent marker. Daring and Elise approached the map that Trenchoof was using, watching him carefully trace lines on the map. The older stallion finished his lines, and turned around to face the two mares.

"Well, good afternoon!" said Trenchoof, "We're about an hour away from the landing, and now would be a good time to cover the site layout." He pointed to the map with his free hoof, showing the outlying area of the ruins a short distance in from the landing. He had traced a thick black line from the boat landing to the base of the ruins on the map.

"This here is the road that was constructed last week, there's a makeshift bridge standing across the gorge that the truck will be able to cross. That's about one mile into the actual forest itself," Trenchoof explained. Daring nodded, understanding. Elise seemed indifferent, as if she already knew it all.

"Now, let's be sure that we're all aware of our responsibilities..." Trenchoof continued, "Miss Stiflehock?"

"Surveying and on-site terrain analysis," was her curt reply. Trenchoof nodded and looked towards Daring.

"Architecture and artifact analysis," said Daring, taking off her pith helmet for a moment to brush part of her mane out of her face.

"Very good," Trenchoof said, "Now that that's out of the way, I just wanted to tell you two to be on the lookout for anypony, well, anyone else who might try to sabotage or interfere. As you know, the Gryphons have been looking for possible leads on Zenith for some time. We've searched five so far, but they're coming right up behind us with four searches. None of theirs has yielded anything conclusive, but then again neither has our previous attempts. Let's hope we get lucky this time."

Trouble

The rain was incredible. Daring was all too familiar with the weather of a tropical rain forest, and this was no exception. The boat pulled ashore at it's destination just as the thicker clouds rolled in and the wind began to blow. The sky was a dark grey, and the clouds blanketed the air like a dreary quilt. The wind blew harshly on the open water of the river, and Daring had to grab her helmet and hold it down on top of her head to prevent it from getting taken away with one of the stronger gusts. She stuck a hoof underneath the brim, and loosened the chinstrap. She placed her pith helmet back over the top of her head, stretching the strap down over her muzzle and under her chin, keeping it in place.

The truck's engine roared to life, and in the dimming light the headlights shined bright. The truck rolled off the exit ramp of the boat, and down onto the muddy bank of the shore. Moments later, it was resting neatly on a pony-made trail supposedly made recently to reach the site. Daring was getting ready to get off of the boat herself, but it was then that she remembered her bag. In the driving rain that was starting to obstruct her vision with streaks of grayish-blue, she could barely make out the soaked form of her bag on the far side of the deck. Daring trotted over to it and picked it up with one of her free hooves, slinging it back over her shoulder. She looked up, trying to see which way the shore was through the torrential downpour. She could see crashing breakers on boulders jutting out from the river, and the water was churning violently with the storm. A great hulk seemed to rise up from the depths of the waters. Daring's eyes widened as she saw it. The hulk was long and dark, and it had a distinct shape. It looked like a long tube, rounded off at both ends. The top of it was flat like the deck of a ship, and another cube-like compartment sat atop that. In the pouring rain, Daring could not make much out of the markings, but she could see the distinct red flag with the white circle in the center flapping in the turbulent winds. There was a black shape at the center of the white dot, and it appeared to be a symbol of a mighty creature rearing back, claws stretched ahead of it.

Daring had seen quite enough. She knew what she had just seen through the sheets of rain. She turned and quickly galloped back towards shore, leaping of the boat and landing in the mud. Her four hooves sank down into the runny muck, but Daring was able to free herself. The truck was now on the trail, and Daring was able to leap the back of it, which was covered by a canvas roof.

"What in the name of Celestia was all that about?" Trenchoof asked, looking at the soaking wet Daring covered head to hoof in mud. Daring gasped, and replied to the former sergeant.

"There was something in the water," responded Daring, "It looked like some kind of boat that just.... came right up out of the water. A submarine of some kind."

"Yes," murmured Trenchoof disdainfully, "A U-Boat. I'm willing to bet the Gryphons have got the military involved in this dig. Let's hope they don't find the site of the ruins we're heading for, but I want everypony to be on guard, do you hear?"

"Got it," Daring agreed. She saw Elise look up, mane drenched with rain. She nodded as well.

"Good," said Trenchoof, "Well, we need to get somepony to get the perimeter marked out. Stiflehock, that's up to you when we arrive, raining or not. Dr- er, Daring, you'll be needed inside the ruins themselves. There's some chambers we've discovered recently, as well as some artifacts that need to be examined."

"No problem," Daring said, "actually, it'd be my pleasure."

****

Twenty minutes passed before the group arrived at the actual site of the ruins. The heavy rainfall continued through all of that period, and occasionally the sky was lit up with a brilliant flash of light as lightning crackled sporadically. The truck chugged through the small trail that had been cleared through the brush, and despite the weather the armed guards were paying careful attention to their surroundings.

The truck pulled to a stop in front of a rock structure that was at the bottom of a small hill in an odd-looking clearing. The clearing had few trees growing in it, and was made up of a rain-soaked hill topped with some kind of structure at the top made out of stone. The base was a set of statues that had fallen into disrepair. Ahead, Daring could see a slightly larger building that was also constructed out of stone but was in a cluster of trees. The building afforded protection from the driving rain, so many of the ponies headed there as soon as the truck stopped. Elise and Trenchoof made their way over there, where a makeshift base of operations had already been constructed days ago. In the dim lighting afforded by the dense cloud coverage, several lanterns were lit under dry cover to be able to see. Daring herself made it over there, stepping out from the muddy ground and onto the dry stone floor of the building.

"Wow, look at this architecture," Daring noted, looking around at the building itself. The pillars that held the ceiling aloft were ornate despite being hoof-carved, and the interior walls seemed lined with embossed and engraved images that depicted scenes from the area. Daring took a look at some of the pictures. They were relatively mundane, showing ponies pulling farm equipment behind them. That was noteworthy from an archaeological standpoint (it had been suggested that the plow had been invented in South Equestria by ancient pony civilizations), however it was not something Daring would expect to see at the city of Zenith.

"Now, if this is Zenith, then there's got to be a reference to the trials here," said Daring, examining the carvings. They were all interesting, but they depicted tools being used and no historical events to verify the location's significance in ancient pony mythology.

"So what do you mean by 'trials'?" asked Trenchoof, taking off his campaign hat and shaking it with a free hoof in an attempt to rid it of some water droplets.

"Well, the trials refers to the tasks that the gods indicated must be completed in order for a new king to ascend to the throne. So, each time the current king died, the potential replacements needed to pass all the trials," Daring explained, "According to legend, the gods set up a kind of obstacle course in the underworld. The potential kings would be led down into the underworld, and then in order to reach their kingdom they would have to pass through several ordeals and physically demanding trials. Many of the candidates were ruled out simply because they died trying to beat a certain trial."

"So the trials start down below the Earth, or do they start on the top and work down?" asked Trenchoof, who had now replaced his hat back atop his head.

"No, the trials go up higher and higher, until they reach the very highest level of the Underworld," said Daring, "the first pony that made it out of the Underworld and back up to the 'overworld' was crowned king. I guess they didn't do it by heredity."

"Apparently not," said Trenchoof, "So that's why it's called Zenith? Zenith means peak, and it's the peak of the underworld?"

"Yeah," Daring said, "that's right. Hey, I'm going to go take a look at that thing up on top of that hill we passed, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Understood. Do what you need to do."

****

Lightning continued to crackle and light up the sky as Daring reached the top of the hill. There was a stone pavilion at the top of it, which still had four support columns despite it's age and exposure to the elements. The wind was whipping by, and Daring could feel herself getting soaking wet from the slanted angle of the drops reaching underneath the top of the pavilion. Her mane was being flailed about in the wind, but she set to work anyways.

Daring bent in closer to examine the markings on the floor of the structure. It had been worn down and was barely visible, but she could make out the form of several ponies on it. They weren't doing anything out of the ordinary in the engravings here, either. Daring turned to look at the broken statues about the base of the structure, but paused as she heard something among the din of activity nearby and the howling of the wind.

It was a mechanical sound, similar to the rumbling of the truck's engine, only deeper. Daring lifted up her head, peering at the trees down below. The dark sky and the rain made it hard to see, but she thought she saw some kind of dark form on the road cleared for the truck. She squinted to see better, when suddenly the sky was lit by a bolt of lightning. Daring could see the form of a massive vehicle with a turret and a large cannon-like protrusion lumbering closer to the other group for a split second, and then all was once again dark. The flash was followed by a loud rumbling of thunder.

Daring's eyes widened as she processed what she had just seen. She looked over towards the other group in the building. They were scurrying about, looking scared. Daring backed up against a pillar of the area she was, keeping a low profile and restricting herself to the shadows.

There was yelling, and the sound of gunshots and screaming pierced through the steady drumming of the rain. Bright flashes of orange and puffs of smoke lit up the darkened brush of the rain forest, and bodies fell about down into the mud, laying still. Above them stood stone-faced soldiers, equipped with metal helmets and pointing rifles at the ponies that stood against the wall. The soldiers had heads like hawks, and bodies like lions. Their wings were furled behind their backs. With frustrated agitation, on of the officers conversed with Trenchoof. Even from as far away as Daring was the tension was apparent. The Gryphons were aggressive after all, and she had been wrong. Those who hadn't been killed in the surprise ambush attack seemed to be surrendering, and likely they would be taken prisoner.

"This is bad," whispered Daring, grimacing. She stood up, standing in the middle of the darkened structure to avoid being seen by any of the gryphon soldiers. She thought that if she could slowly descend the hill on the opposite side, she might have a chance of hiding from the soldiers. Yeah, that was a good idea. She would hide from them until they had left, and then she would follow the gryphons from a distance. If she was careful, she might have a chance of springing the prisoners.

Her forming plans were dashed to pieces as another flash of lightning struck nearby. The bright light illuminated the inside of the small stone pavilion, and made Daring's silhouette clearly visible from the base of the hill, where several gryphon soldiers stood. Daring winced. She could hear the exited sounds of soldiers yelling. Gunshots rang out through the rain, and Daring heard the sounds of bullets whizzing by close to her. They were shooting at her.

Daring whirled on her hooves, dashing down onto the other side of the hill as fast as her legs could carry her. With the rain and the lightning it was a bad idea to take to the skies, and the dense forest would provide her with sufficient protection if she could evade the gryphons that she knew must already be in pursuit. The archaeologist pony tore through a patch of vines, penetrating deeper into the overgrown forest. The wet mud sunk beneath her hooves but she pressed onward, branches of low-lying plants whacking against her body and her bag. The downhill portion quickly shifted to an elevation, which Daring mounted without wasting a moment. She was running as fast as she could given the fact that she could hardly see a thing in this jungle.

Behind her, the sound of firing weapons and shouting soldiers grew fainter. Perhaps she was beyond their immediate range, but they would likely comb the area for her during the night. She could not rest here. Daring continued on over the top of the next hill and reached a flat area covered with wet ferns. She knew that her path would be easy to follow through trampled ferns, so Daring cautiously flapped her wings. The pegasus was able to hover low over the ground and circumvent the patch of ferns. She landed in a puddle of mud on the other side and quickly regretted it as she sank in up to her vest. Her legs were completely submerged in runny muck, and she swore to herself as she struggled to pull them free. Her wings provided the extra oomph necessary to extricate herself. Covered in mud, Daring continued running through the low-lying brambles and shrubs as best she could, placing some good distance between herself and the area that she had previously been. The pony continued to run for what felt like hours, though without a good timepiece she had no way of telling for sure.

Daring looked back as she struggled over a hill, seeing her progress. The tree coverage made it difficult to see, so she ascended up the side of a nearby tree on the very top of the hill. She rested on a branch protruding from the side, observing the position of the river. She had been near the river when she started. The trail that led to the ruins had been parallel to the river. Now she could see that the river was far in the distance over the leafy treetops of the dense forest. The rain was considerably lighter, and the clouds were starting to move away, but the sky did not get any lighter. Nighttime was falling, and Daring would have to find somewhere to lay low for the night. Perhaps...

CRACK!

A branch snapped beneath her and Daring lost her balance, falling down onto the ground with a force that knocked the wind right out of the pony. Daring had landed on the downhill side, and tumbled down the rocky slope with increasing momentum. She put her hooves out to try and slow herself, but she struck a rock and recoiled in sudden jarring pain as she was slammed up against the side of a jagged boulder. The frightening experience was jolted to a halt as Daring stopped tumbling, and tried to catch her breath. Her pith helmet was still on top of her head, having been kept on by a chin strap. She could feel the many bruises and scrapes she had suffered from her fall, and her head was pounding. Daring struggled weakly up, and realized that it was hopeless to try to continue. She was hurt, and exhausted, and the waves of fatigue flowing over her prevented her from exerting any more. She had pushed herself in her fleeing, and the feeling of fatigue made her want to stop. She tried to fight the feeling, but her energy was low. The pony stumbled about, trying hard to stay upright on all fours, but the darkness of unconsciousness began to tug at her and slow her down. Unable to keep her fatigue at bay any longer, Daring collapsed in the mud, eyes rolling back into her head as a black pool seemed to open before her.

Village

It was the chirping of birds that woke Daring up. The exotic birds that resided in the region created noises far different from contemporary birds in Equestria. Daring was familiar with the indigenous life, having traveled to the region extensively. The steady din of jungle activity seemed to intrude on the blissful ignorance that was unconsciousness, but once coherent though patterns began to form inside Daring's head she realized that she could rest no longer. Daring groaned to herself, and tried to move her hooves. She was laying in a pile of dirt, and the mud had caked on her vest and over her legs and flank. She stood up on all four legs and felt the mud peel off and drop in places. Daring looked back, and saw the dirt sticking to her side and decided to brush some of it off with one of her front hooves.

Daring knew that she looked disheveled and dirty, but how she appeared was really the least of her worries. What was the most pressing on her mind was her location and how she should obtain some nourishment. Daring could see from the orange-hued sky that it was sunrise, and the pangs of hunger were starting to affect her. She had spent a lot of energy the previous night, and if she wanted to try to do anything to find where the other had been taken and attempt to help them she was going to need to replenish that energy. She knew she had materials to make a fire, but what with the gryphons being hostile after all and (for all she knew) still combing the area for her, a fire would only serve to give her location away.

Daring knew that she could rely on some wild-growing vegetation and fruit for some breakfast, but she was going to need to find some clean drinking water as well. She had a canteen that still had water in it, but it wouldn't last her past midday. She would have to try to locate somewhere to replenish clean water over the course of the morning.

The archaeologist pony took a tentative step forward, which was followed by a few more. She made her way carefully through the wet fronds and ferns and soon was on her way. She kept moving in the direction she had previously been going before she had passed out during the night. The macaws crowed above her, and the jungle ambiance seemed ever so audible to the pony as she walked alone through the woods. Daring squinted, and looked at a small tree directly ahead of her. The leaves contained what looked liked an oblong sphere covered in brownish scales. If Daring knew her local flora right then that fruit was an aguaje. It was with great relief that Daring flew up to the lower hanging branches of the tree and plucked one of the fruits with her jaws.

Daring landed on the forest floor and proceeded to scrape the brown scales off the fruit with her bottom teeth. Underneath was the yellowish meat of the fruit, which Daring gladly dug into and ate. It wasn't a whole meal, but at least it was something to start off with and put energy into her system.

Over the next hour, Daring managed to find several other types of fruit. She felt full enough and energized, but took drinks from her canteen as sparingly as possible. Until she could find a place that had clean drinking water or had the opportunity to make a fire and boil some, she would have to make the canteen last. The pony reached another small hilltop from which she flew over the cover of the trees briefly to see what was ahead. To her surprise, she saw a number of interesting things.

First and foremost, she saw a rising column of smoke about a half mile ahead of her current position. She didn't know whether it was indigenous ponies or a Gryphon camp, so she felt slightly uneasy about rushing to investigate. Farther beyond that she could see the unmistakable sign of a set of ruins. Pillars and stone rested on top of a set of waterfalls that Daring saw in the distance. As far as she could tell, there had not been any sites marked out on their maps that had waterfalls below them. Perhaps this was a site that nopony knew about?

Daring decided to proceed with caution. She would swing towards the source of the smoke, but making sure that she kept quiet and stealthy in case it was Gryphons or a hostile group of indigenous. There was the off-chance that it was simply a friendly pony tribe, but with the situation she was currently in she had no desire to make that gamble.

****

After several minutes of clambering over large tree roots and weaving through thick vegetation, Daring was within sight of the squat huts arranged in a circular order around a worn clearing within the dense forest. Daring kept her head low as she observed several of the villagers galloping around in an excited fashion. The pony she saw was murmuring something in the tribal dialects to some form that Daring couldn't quite make out.

The archaeologist pony stuck her head out to see around the side of one of the straw huts. She could make out the form of the pleading pony who began crawling on his belly at the feet of something else. Daring withdrew her head quickly when she saw what it was, eyes widening. She gulped, for she had just seen an armed Gryphon soldier with his gun drawn and pointed at the defenseless villager. Something was wrong here, she could feel it.

"Answer the question, schweinhund!" shouted the soldier in a harsh voice, and Daring could hear the click of a gun. The stallion on the ground sounded as if he was making some kind of crying noise, and weeping. Whatever information the Gryphon soldier wanted, he didn't sound as if he knew it. Daring, as scared as she was of being discovered and blowing all chances of rescuing the others, had a sudden feeling of anger. What gave that bird-brain the right to barge into a village and demand things from them?

"I asked you vhere ze mustard colored mare is being kept. You have thus far refused to answer my questions. If you do not stop zis insolence, then I vill be forced to unload the contents of zis firearm here into your skull. Begreifen schweinhund?" the Gryhpon demanded. Daring's blood boiled. She may have been there now, but the local ponies had no knowledge of her existence so far. For the Gryphons to go and demand she be turned over when she hadn't been present was a brutal tactic, which made the mare furious. If one had been able to observe Daring they would have seen her eyes furrow and her teeth grit as she listened to the words escaping the Gryphon's beak. Daring reached into her bag, and fastened a small chain around her hoof. Her muscles tensed up.

"I no know!" the pony on the ground wailed, attempting to speak in very broken equestrian english. The Gryhon clicked his tongue.

"Very well, you had your chance. Auf Wiedersehen," said the Gryphon. He raised the rifle to the head of the pony, aiming the muzzle right between the stallion's watery eyes. He pulled the trigger, and the air resounded in a large CRACK sound, and then the gun went off.

The stallion shook for a moment, eyes winced. He heard a loud squaking sound above him, and then a crunching sound. That was followed by a thump, and by then he was convinced that he did not have a hole through the middle of his head, and his eyes fluttered open.

To his surprise, the stallion saw the gryphon laying on the ground in front of him, eyes clouded over and head twisted far too much to the side to be alive. The limp body of the soldier lay below the form of a golden yellow pegasus dressed in a vest and some kind of a pith helmet. The pegasus offered out a hoof to help the stallion up, which he accepted carefully.

"Are you hurt?" Daring asked, and then shook her head. She'd need to try to translate her questions. She knew some of the root languages that tribal dialects sprouted from, perhaps she would be able to communicate with that. Daring translated her question for the stallion to hear.

The other pony's eyes lit up when he heard Daring speak. It wasn't exact, but it was comprehensible enough. He nodded, and showed her his left front hoof, which was bent at an odd angle. Daring winced when she saw it. It was clearly broken, and she wasn't well equipped to deal with it.

"One moment," Daring said in the local language, and took off her bag. Rummaging through it, she was able to produce a bit of cloth that was supposed to be an attachment that went over the back of her pith helmet on particularly warm and dry days. It was warm, but the humidity prevented it from being necessary. Besides, it would serve this suffering colt better.

Daring scooped a couple of strong sticks up from the ground beneath her. They were long, one of them longer than the leg and the other just about the same length as the leg itself. Perfect. The pegasus set to work, breaking off a small piece to use as a cross-section and lashing it to the very bottom of both sticks with her emergency baling twine. She propped the skeleton of the splint up against the non-injured leg of the stallion, who had laid down on his side. Daring adjusted the length to match up, and then set to work attaching the splint to the stallion's injured leg.

"Look out, this may hurt for a moment, but this will keep your weight off the leg until you can get better help," said Daring. She proceeded to lash the fixture she had made onto the leg of the injured pony. She ripped her cloth apart and used it as a softer material in places where it had to be tight around the stallion's coat. The splint would make the leg essentially longer than the others, and would prevent the stallion from putting too much pressure on it. It wouldn't make it heal, but it would keep it from getting any much worse until it could heal on its own or until he could get better, more experienced help.

The stallion blinked, looking at the splint. He looked up to Daring, and nodded. Daring smiled back. She packed up the extra cloth, and took a small sip from her canteen. There had to be some fresh water in this village, perhaps she could ask for some. Daring turned to look at the stallion, who was testing out the splint and looked relatively relieved. Daring was slightly aware of other ponies who were beginning to poke out from around buildings and observe.

"Do you have any water?" asked Daring, translating her statements once again. The stallion appeared to have understood, for he motioned over to a small wooden container that had a amount of water. Daring gladly went over to it and refilled her canteen. The bubbles of air escaped from it, and were replaced with water. Daring screwed the cap back on, and looked back towards the stallion. To her surprise, she was met by several other ponies wearing tribal regalia, including a very tall mare who wore some kind of a ceremonial headdress made with brilliantly colored macaw feathers.

The mare spoke to Daring in the local language making gesticulations with a hoof every now and again and nodding as she spoke. Daring had to strain to be able to understand. What she got was words like "thank" and "honored" and "gift." She was under the impression that the tribe was offering their gratitude for having killed the one gryphon aggressor that had stumbled upon their village. Daring offered a few word that roughly meant "your welcome" and "no problem". The mare smiled to her, and produced what looked like a golden pentagon. She held it out with two hooves, presenting it to Daring. Daring raised her eyebrows, and held a hoof to her chest.

"For me?" she asked, a look of surprise covering her face. The mare nodded. Daring took the pentagon and respectfully placed it into her bag in a separate pocket from her regular junk.

"Thank you," said Daring after translating the statement, "but what is it for?" In response, the mare took a step back, and spoke rapidly in the tribal dialect, too fast for Daring to catch most of. She did catch the motions that the pony was making, which looked similar to somepony that was climbing a mountain, and then placing a key into a keyhole, only larger. The mare finished by making a large pushing motion with both front hooves before returning them to the ground and standing back on all four legs. Daring nodded, getting a slight idea of what she had meant.

The relatively peaceful background noise was suddenly conflicted with yelling and screeching, which sounded as if it were coming from angry eagles. The noise was off in the distance a ways, and Daring knew what it meant. Gryphons.

The villagers looked about them and went away as quickly as possible, the stallion in the splint hobbling off as fast as possible. Daring's eyes narrowed as she was left as the only pony left in the center of the clearing in the village.

****

SCREEEEEEECH

The vehicle came to a stop in the center of the village, swinging its front end around and kicking up a spray of mud with its tires. Daring's eyes widened as she saw several uniformed gryphons leap out from the back of the truck, while another two came out from the driver's and passenger's compartment. The pony clenched her teeth and bolted for the side of one of the huts, trying to stay out of site. She pressed her body low to the ground and peered slowly around the corner.

The gryphons split up, and were lead by one larger officer who was barking commands. This particular gryphon was bulkier than the others, and had a much deeper bottom beak. He glanced about as his subordinates went through each and every hut, dragging the tribal ponies out of them by force. He didn't really seem concerned with the unnecessary force and borderline brutality they were using. If anything it seemed like he condoned such activity. Daring's eyes narrowed as one of the gryphons drew near. She crouched just out of site as he threw open the woven grass curtains that acted as an entrance into the hut she was standing next to as a way of concealing herself.

The soldier entered the hut, but came out a moment later without much success. Apparently there were no innocent tribal ponies to harass in that particular hut. Of course, Daring knew that none of this was about the villagers. It was about her. It was her that they wanted, and that was their justification for turning the place upside down.

The gryphon stuck his head around the side of the hut for a brief moment. His bright yellowish eyes narrowed as he scanned the tree line beyond the huts. A drop of sweat dripped off from the white feathers around his face, landing on top of Daring's pith helmet. She looked up, and saw that the soldier was right above her. Unfortunately, this motion attracted the gryphon's attention, and he started in alarm. His beak flew open as he was about to yell out to his comrades, but a swift jab with a hoof knocked the sense right out of him. The gryphon's head flew back, and the momentary advantage was more than enough for Daring to spring up from her crouched position and pounce. In a moment the pony had pinned the beast to the ground, and repeatedly slammed a hoof into his face. The soldier attempted to regain himself, but each successive blow reduced him until he was senseless and twitching on the ground. Daring let out a low breath, and dragged the unconscious gryphon around behind the hut.

"Where ist Gottlieb?" the leader of the group yelled. Several of the soldiers who had returned from the search with little to show for it stood in the center of the village shrugging. This didn't please the larger gryphon.

"Why are you all standing around with your claws up your.... grrrrr," growled the leader, looking angrily at his soldiers. In response they straightened up and looked about, trying to seem busy with the search. The leader shook his head, causing his forehead feathers to tremble. He turned to look at the tall mare in the ceremonial headdress with a look of disgust.

"Where ist that little pony?" he demanded. The mare was tall, but she did not reach up to the gryphon's full height, especially not when he stood on his hind legs. He looked at her with contempt on his face. One could almost see him tremble in frustration. His eyes bulged, and a pulsating vein could be seen beating at his temple beneath the edge of the black officer's cap. The leader suddenly lashed out, grabbing ahold of the mare with both sets of talons and shaking her roughly.

"WHERE IS THAT PONY?!" yelled the gryphon. The mare couldn't understand any of the words, whether the gryphon had chosen to speak equestrian english or his own language mad no difference to her ability to comprehend. Her inability to answer the question and her refusal to cooperate angered the leader further. He raised a talon into the air and seemed poised to lash out and strike at her face when a voice came through the air that made him stop.

"Let her go!" was Daring's plea. The mare stood in front of a pile of logs that were being cut and smoothed for use by the villagers, and was sitated slightly above the village center. In this position she looked down onto the proceedings, and therefore looked down on the gryphons from above. There was a commotion of excited screeches and yelling before the leader answered her.

"Dr. Daring Do? You are wanted by the Gryphony Archaeological Regiment for trespassing on a site claimed-"

"I don't care!" Daring yelled back defiantly, "it's not your land, so don't give me that bull! You have no right to come here and disrupt our digging efforts just because you guys decided to bring a bunch of armored-"

"Halt die Klappe!" shouted the leader, drawing a pistol out from his jacket pocket and bringing it to bear on Daring. The others did the same, and Daring now found herself to be in quite the predicament with several guns now fixated on her.

"If you please, Dr. Do," said the large Gryphon. Daring took a look around her. She could see no way that she could bolt into the thick brush before they opened fire. Plus, even the brush couldn't protect against bullets. Daring considered throwing the towel in. After all, they would have to take her to the others. Perhaps they would be able to work things out, after all, this all had to be some kind of big misunderstanding. But what if they meant much worse? Yes, she was in the worst of snags right now. Daring took a step down the short hill before her leg caught on something.

That was it, a snag! Her hoof had caught on a rope system that had been used to tie the logs together while they were being stored at the top of the hill. Daring looked down the hill and grinned for a second. She knew exactly what she would do.

"Alright, I'm coming down," Daring said. She stepped with her other hoof this time, and then with the caught one she gave a sharp tug. Almost on cue the rope snapped and the logs began tumbling down the hill. The big gryphon's eyes bulged suddenly as the logs rolled down with furious speed, slamming into several of his soldiers. Some were able to escape, but many more found their tails, legs, or wings trapped underneath one of the heavy wooden logs. Daring took to the skies in the confusion, wings giving her the flight necessary to put more distance between herself and the gryphons. She heard screeches and confused yells below her, and amid the din she thought she heard cheering coming from the mouths of ponies.

****

Daring laid low for a short time thereafter, but she had quickly made up her mind that it was in her best interest to keep on the move. After a show like that, it would be likely that the gryphons would be after her in much greater force. She had to keep moving. The incident also convinced her of another thing: she couldn't go and just bust the others out. She was going to have to hide herself until the gryphons had stopped looking for her.

This left Daring with a few options. Either she could hide away in the jungles and attempt to conceal herself in the dense vegetation, or she could attempt to find another set of ruins and find a secluded place. By this point, Daring was more willing to try the latter. The pony landed among a patch of ferns in the dense underbrush below the treeline. She took out her canteen and took a sip, looking around as she did so.

I need to find somewhere first of all, Daring thought to herself. Hearing the distant sound of gunshots and screeching, Daring pressed on. The wooded tangle of underbrush seemed determined to hinder her progress as she mounted a hill. She was sure that if she could continue to explore new territory she could eventually find somewhere safe to hunker down until the gryphons had abandoned the search for her. Struggling through the difficult brush, she succeeded in reaching the very top of the hill that had just been before her, and now looked out over what lay next.

Ahead was a river. Not the main river, which was wide and heavily traveled, but a much smaller one. This one cut through the jungle wildly, meandering through hills and dropping down waterfalls. The water moved rapidly, and gurgled in a white froth in places. Daring's eyes followed the path of the water as it flowed down, disappearing around a bend. She moved backwards up the river, looking as far up as she could. Her eyes rested on a steep waterfall, churning white and roaring with the sound of falling water. Funnily enough, though the waterfall came from the river itself, another portion of the water was flowing sideways at the very top, mixing in with the other water from the river and falling down the waterfall. This miniature waterfall seemed to be coming from a structure carved into the side of a rock wall, where the earth had been eroded away many years ago.

Daring glanced about. To her, it was worth the risk of exposure to check this out. She took off, zipping over to this structure by flying over the river and up the waterfall. She hovered in place next to the stone wall, flapping her wings steadily as she inspected it. It seemed to match most of the other work from the time period. Exposure to the elements had resulted in what had once been stairs being only a few broken steps left on a flat surface, next to the torrent of water alongside it. Inside the rock wall was darker, but it seemed to be some kind of chamber.

Daring battled with herself for a second. Should she go into the wall and try to hide there, or should she move on? A resounding banging sound that was either some kind of gunshot or the sputtering of a machine from the direction she would have fled made Daring suddenly very uneasy. They were planning on intercepting her up ahead, it seemed. The prospect of further fleeing seemed unlikely, so Daring decided that hiding was the only viable option for the time being. She took a few deep breaths, and flew into the chamber in the side of the rock wall.

Inside the Temple

The inside of the chamber was moist, and smelled odd. Perhaps it is hard for one to understand what it smelt like, but it would be similar the smell of grass clippings coupled with some compost and the smell one gets after rain has hit the pavement on a summer's day. As the pony landed on the side of what appeared to be some kind of stone water duct, the oppressive scent filled her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose.

"Yuck, this thing probably hasn't been dredged out in centuries," said Daring, speaking to herself, "It's a wonder it still functions."

The pony shimmied further inwards as the side walkway grew thinner and thinner. Her left side was pressed up against the stone wall, while she felt the spray of water droplets on her right as the water rushed past. Without sufficient lighting she couldn't tell if there was anything significant for markings on the wall, and as an archaeologist she felt that she was missing the opportunity to investigate a lost part of this ancient culture. However, her desire to survive and hide from the gryphons outweighed her curiosity.

She reached a point where the water turned to the right, and there was no walkway. There appeared to be some kind of walkway to the left, but a quick investigation revealed this to be unusable. A cave-in further ahead had blocked the path off entirely. Sighing, Daring did the only thing she could, and stepped into the waist-deep water.

Though it reached halfway up her side, Daring was able to keep from getting washed away. A level of muck had built up in the bottom of the duct, and by digging her hooves in she was able to work against the current, slowly making her way upstream and going down the right tunnel. Cracks in the wall revealed bits of sunlight, and Daring was given a dim visibility as she waded on. She turned another corner, and continued wading through the murky water until she came to an are where the paths branched again. This time, the water went to the left while there was a walkway to the right. Daring was more than glad to get out of the water and up onto the stone floor of the walkway. Her entire side was covered in mud, and Daring shook it off as best she could, scraping her hooves against the cold stone to clear herself of the muck.

Now Daring could see some kind of an upwards slope. Again, cracks in the walls and ceiling revealed bits of light and made it possible for her to see inside the area. The walls, ceiling, and floor were in poor shape. The stone was tinged green with moss, and jungle vines had long overtaken anything resembling carvings and made them illegible. Mosquitoes buzzed around the pony's head, and Daring swatted at them as she made her way up the slope. The sound of rushing water faded behind her, and she reached the top of the slope. If she wasn't mistaken, this was some kind of hallway inside of a temple or some kind of important building. The walls were cramped in some places, and spacious in the other, and there was a sense of twisting and turning. Daring's progression was hindered by the presence of a very large rock in the middle of a hallway.

Daring attempted to look over it. Ahead, the hall sloped down, though there was not enough space to simply fly over the rock. The rock itself presented her with some curiosities. For one, it was spherical. It didn't seem to be there naturally- some pony had carved this long ago and had placed it here for a reason. Perhaps it had been intended to keep ponies from travelling through. But then- how would that work? What would it do, keep ponies from acessing the water? Perhaps it had been placed there to prevent one from doing what Daring herself was now attempting to do- enter the temple from the outside. This made sense, but it didn't help Daring at all. She had to be able to get past.

Frustrated, Daring threw herself against the rock. To her surprised, it budged, scraping the sides of the wall and rumbling. Daring blinked. She was getting an idea now. She pressed against the rock again, though harder this time and tried to sustain the motion. The rock moved even more, and once it had been pushed off from the flat surface and onto the downwards slope it began to move on it's own, picking up speed and rolling down. Daring had half expected it to bounce off the wall and become lodged in the corner up ahead, but it actually went right through. A sudden bright beam of light blinded Daring as the rock crashed through the wall and rolled out into some kind of courtyard. It crashed into a small statue in the center, and came to a stop.

Daring approached the statue with some caution. For one, the courtyard was out in the open, and even though all four sides were enclosed with either a stone wall or some kind of barrier, the fact that the skies above her were open made Daring feel uncomfortable. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but when someone has attempted to take a pony's life that pony has every reason to watch out.

The statue ahead of her was clearly in the shape of a pony. It appeared to be some kind of unicorn, as the vines and the mossy growth could not completely hide the horn carved into its head. More interesting was the position of the statue itself. The back hooves were firmly planted on the ground, while the front hooves both were in different positions. There were two stone boxes in front of the statue, and its right hoof was firmly planted on one of them. The left hoof and the left box were not together, with the hoof left standing on the ground.

Daring squinted at the box that was empty. It appeared to have some kind of indentation in the top of it that was meant for the hoof to go in. A closer look showed that this was not the case. The edges were too sharp compared tot he more rounded front of a hoof. Instead, the indentation seemed to be in the shape of a pentagon.

Daring struck a hoof against the ground as her eyes lit up. She knew exactly what this was for! She had studied this kind of a release system when she had visited the ruins of an ancient city back in 1928. What anypony would have to do would be to press down on the completed set of the hole and the key. The key (should it fit the shape) would then press down on some kind of peg and release some kind of hanging weights (usually not seen out in the open) to allow a section of wall to slide up or down, allowing passage. The one she had seen was cleverly used as part of an entrance to a throne room, so that only those who had access to the correct keys (stone or metallic geometric shapes) could open the door and gain access to the king.

The pony recalled the pentagon she had been given by the mare in the village. Digging around in her bag, Daring was able to produce it easily. The pentagon fit the slot perfectly, and Daring slid it into place. She licked her lips, and then pressed down on top of it with a hoof. Nothing happened for a moment, and Daring let go. As she let go, she heard something shift, and a moment later the sudden drop of a rock weight led to the sound of scraping stone, and Daring turned to see that a small section of wall had given way, revealing a passage into another chamber that led deeper into the side of the earth. Daring re-adjusted her gear, and carefully trotted through the open passageway.

The next chamber she encountered was a little tight, and smelled musty. Though plant matter and vines had invaded, it was clear that nopony had set hoof in this area for longer than any of the previous sections. Daring eyed what was beyond, and to her dismay it seemed to be a dead end. No, that couldn't be right, thought Daring, there was a small crevice in the wall. Perhaps it was a double set of doors.

To test this out, Daring stepped towards the door. Her hoof struck a circular plate that was level with the rest of the ground, pressing it in. This caused a reaction and the pony paused, eyes darting around. The room rumbled, and dust fell from cracks in the walls and in the ceiling overhead. The dark stone wall split open as a set of double doors swung wide, allowing Daring to access the area beyond. She grinned, shifting her pith helmet and walking forward into the chamber. She passed beyond the doors, and began looking about the chamber. There were cobwebs covering the walls, and some of the walls were covered in carvings. Stepping further down the passageway, Daring peered at one of these for a moment. It depicted many ponies (most of the stallions) lining up at the start of something. Large pseudo-alicorn figures towered over them, and their edges seemed less well-defined. Daring could see some kind of text, which she translated to mean "highest point" or "culmination". This meant something to her, as the word used to describe that term was "Zenith".

Daring was distracted from her desire to hide herself by the revelation that she may very well have been at the spot she had sought to find. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud slamming behind her. Daring wheeled around sharply, but she was too late. The doors had shut on her, trapping her in. The pony even tried to press up against them, but the heavy stone would not budge. Defeated, Daring turned back in the direction the tunnel would take her. It was dimmer then it had been before, but it was possible to see what one was doing.

The path ahead slanted downwards, and the floor was rather slippery. She dug her hooves into the hard-packed soil in the cracks between slabs of stone. By doing this, she was able to slow her descent and maneuver carefully around the areas where piles of rock were piled. However, she soon came to a place where she faced a dead end. A small pillar that had kept some kind of archway up had fallen and blocked the exit into the next chamber and the staircase beyond. There would be no way to get through or over it. Additionally, a large stone craved in the shape of a unicorn's head was suspended from the ceiling, and swung like a pendulum on a thick piece of rope.

"It's a wonder this thing is still moving... there must be some kind of rigging with a water duct to keep the pendulum moving," Daring said aloud to herself. She thought about this for a moment. Perhaps the pillar, as heavy as it was, was loose.

Daring wanted to test this out, so she carefully stepped out, wanting to time a jump so that she didn't get hit by the pendulum. Unfortunately for her, the stone she placed her hoof on was slippery with algae, and so as she slipped forward the heavy unicorn's head slammed into her side, sending her painfully crashing backwards. Daring's head was spinning wildly, and she laid down for a few moments until the dizziness faded away.

That wouldn't work, thought Daring. She though for a second, slowly getting back onto all four hooves. If she could get the pendulum to stop, then she's be fine to cross. Daring struck a hoof to the ground, getting an idea. She reached back into her bag and produced the old bullwhip that had been her grandfather's. She had been carrying this thing for just over a year now as part of her normal travel gear, simply because of situations like these. She never knew when she would need some kind of rope, and the whip's ability to firmly grasp once it cracked around something made it a versatile tool.

She slid the chain around over the end of her right hoof, and brought the whip up. She swung it in a large arc over her head, cracking it back at the right moment. The end of it grasped the rope that held the pendulum. With a tug, Daring was able to get the pendulum to swing off from its course. Pulling backwards, Daring made the pendulum stop completely, and held her whip taught.

Taking a step backwards, Daring pulled the pendulum back with her, tugging harder and harder until she felt she could not bring the pendulum back any more. With a sharp motion, she sent a shock along the whip, which made the end of it uncurl from the rope holding the pendulum. Almost immediately it swung in the opposite direction, smashing through the stone pillar and causing the broken bits to fall aside, leaving a gap where Daring could move through. Grinning, Daring adjusted lifted the brim of her pith helmet and stowed the whip back into her bag.

Trenchoof

The stairs beyond led to a clearing, a clearing that was outdoors. The sky was overcast, but the light illuminated things in such a contrast that Daring had to squint. She was at an area that was contained within a valley, a ravine of sorts. There was a cliff side that dropped off and led down steeply to a river far below, and another cliff side on the other side. Daring observed what else was on the other side, and her eyes widened.

A large structure was spread out on the opposite side, and spanned most of the other side. The architecture had survived the many years rather well; the ornate designs and the gold plating was still visible despite the overgrown vines creeping up the sides of the pillars.

"I guess that's where it continues," Daring said to herself. She noticed stone pillars on the edge of the cliff side, with blackened rope dangling. Planks of rotted wood could be seen attached to it in some places, yet it would do her no good. With the bridge split in two and the two halves dangling over the edge, there would be no using the bridge.

"Fortunately for me, I am a pegasus!" said Daring, spreading her wings. With one graceful leap she was airborne, and it was over the ravine for her. The ravine posed no great obstacle, as she was on the other side in no time. Once she landed, Daring took the opportunity to catch a small break. She had stashed a few pieces of fruit in her bag, which she took a bite of to replenish her energy. She'd continue inwards farther, for now she was certain that she had found Zenith, or at least a part of it. No doubt it would be dangerous, as the trials within were said to claim the lives of many stallions who were out to prove their worthiness to rule. Not only was the prospectof finding Zenith drawing Daring to want to poke further in, but the knowledge that it was bound to be filled with traps also gave her more reason to go in. If she could get past the traps, she had more between her and her gryphon pursuers.

****

Meanwhile, at the gryphon camp, Sergeant Trenchoof was in a very uncomfortable situation. He found himself tied to a chair inside a tent, but he had no knowledge of what was beyond the tent. He had no way to move his hooves, as they were tied to his side. His prized campaign hat, which he had worn ever since he had been promoted to sergeant in 1918, had been removed from him and was currently sitting on the dirt in the corner of the tent.

The long hours had worn away at the stallion, who had contented himself to singing songs that he knew, sometimes even thinking up new song lyrics to existing tunes. He made a point of poking fun at the gryphons, knowing full well that they were listening to him just on the other side of a piece of canvas.

"Over There!

Over There!

Send the word, send the word, Over There!

That Equesria's coming, Equestria's coming,

The drums rum tumming everywhere...

So prepare, Say a Prayer,

Send the word, Send the word to beware!

We'll be over, we're coming over.

And we won't be back till it's over over there!"

"Shut up, will you?!" barked a voice from the other side of the canvas. This only served to goad Trenchoof on as the middle aged stallion began bellowing out yet another song he had learned years ago.

"Over hill, over dale,

We will hit the dusty trail,

And our stallions go marching along.

Up and down, in and out,

Counter march and left about,

And those stallions go marching along,"

"I'm not going to tell you töricht pony again," came the voice of a very angry gryphon, "Cease ze song singing or I'm going to get Gwindor on your fetthaltig flank!" The amount of stress and rage in the soldier's voice only served to encourage Trenchoof even more, as he began singing something he had come up with.

"WHEN THE GRYPHONS SAY, WE IST DER MASTER-"

"That's it!" shouted the soldier, stomping into the tent with an angry look on his face. He raised a clawed fist and slammed it into Trenchoof's jaw, causing the pony's head to be thrown sideways and for his wire-rimmed glasses to be flung clear from his face. Trenchoof bit down on his jaw, unable to place his hoof to it to try to rub out the smarting pain from the blow. He didn't continue his song, but merely glared at the soldier.

"What is all the fuss about?" came the voice of yet another gryphon. Trenchoof was surprised when a gryphon wearing a uniformed decked out with medals, some of them dating back as early as 1916. The gryphon had an air of authority, as if he was the one in charge, which Trenchoof believed to be the case.

"Zis pony is singing his stupid songs again, Herr Gwindor!" said the soldier, standing at attention.

"Who cares?" Gwindor stated, looking coldly from his own soldier to Trenchoof. He made a small mock smile when he saw Trenchoof's hat resting in the corner. His gaze fell on the pony himself, and he turned his head to one side.

"Ah, if it isn't one of the Equestrian Doughcolts. How quaint. You know, I probably knew a lot of your friends. I vas a machine gunner by 1917, and I..."

"YOU SHUT YOUR BEAKY MOUTH YOU FEATHERHEADED LOSER!" Trenchoof shouted, jumping up and slamming the leg of the chair down on Gwindor's back paw. The gryphon winced and recoiled quickly.

"DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT MY COMERADES LIKE THAT AGAIN!IF IW WAS FREE I'D RIP YOUR BEAK OFF AND SHOVE IT SO FAR UP YOUR-"

Trenchoof's tirade was stopped when Gwindor pulled out a pistol and clicked the lever back. The gun's barrel was pointed right between the sergeant's eyes.

"Go ahead, finish your statement, I dare you," said Gwindor, "No really, come on. We're dying to hear what kind of hilarious dialouge you have for us. Not gonna talk? Huh? Good. Now sit there and keep your mouth shut, before I decide to end your pathetic life right here and now."

Trenchoof kept silent and only glared back as Gwindor clicked the gun off, and brough it back to his holster at his side. The gryphon spun about, smacking Trenchoof's face with the very end of his tail. The soldier and Gwindor both left the tent, and began discussing things outside not far away. Trenchoof could faintly hear what was being said, so he scooted his chair over until he was much closer to the entrance of the tent.

"What's ze name of zat pony mare?" asked the soldier.

"The one with the pith helmet on?" asked a different voice that was recognizable as belonging to Trenchoof.

"Ya."

"Daring, I think. Daring Do. What about her?"

"Hast anyone found her yet? A team came back, and ze subcommander was a wreck. Three gryphons, dead! Two of them had their necks snapped."

"Mother of.... wow."

"Commander, should I round up ze tank crew and see if we can strategically bombard parts of ze forest?"

"No, you have no idea where that mare is, and you'd just waste the shells. No, listen to me. We have a lead on the location of Zenith itself. There's a waterfall not too far from some obscure village. Beyond that's a ravine, and aerial scouts claim to have seen a structure of some kind during this morning's reconnaissance run. Now, we're going to drop the chase for this mare, and proceed with trying to search within the possible Zenith."

"What kind of stuff do we need to find in ze structures? Just anything that determines it's Zenith?"

"Well, yes. Ultimately the whole thing's going to need a full evaluation, so we need to make sure that we get to the bottom of it. Every chamber, every carving. The sooner we can find concrete proof of gryphon supremacy in ancient times, the sooner we can get the results that they want back in Gryphony. Mr. Gottleib, I'm putting you in charge of this camp facility while I accompany the team as we explore the ruins."

"Aye, sir."

"Keep an eye on that stallion."

"Of course, Herr Gwindor. But, if I might ask, what of ze mare?"

"Daring Do, or Elise Stiflehock?" asked Gwindor, and Trenchoof's ears were perked up listening for all the detail he could get.

"Stiflehock."

"Do not worry about her," Gwindor stated, "It's all been taken care of."

The First and Second Trials

The very first chamber in the new building was simply a long corridor. Small plants and jungle flowers grew on the ground and up the walls. Daring read through a small pocket journal that she had, which was a retelling of the translated version of an ancient epic. Though supposedly fictional, many scholars believed the epic to be directly based on the so-called "Trials of Zenith", or the various tasks and hardships that competitors would have to face in order to reach their ultimate destination.

According to legend, the young colt Ikan (who had been the youngest to ever compete in the tests, only to succeed and become the greatest king the ancient pony civilization of South Equestria had ever know) had faced each of the challenges head-on, and had made it through because he was able to think outside of the box, whereas the older stallions had failed because they were close-minded. While it isn't advisable to take mythology at face value as an archaeologist, Daring felt that the story held significance to her.

"Ikan was a fast colt. He was both quick-witted and quick on his hooves," Daring read, "The other stallions laughed at him, but Ikan paid them no mind. He prepared and stretched as they spent their last nights before the trials partying. When the first event came, the sound of a thousand thundering hooves roared through the valley, with the young colt among them. Though many of the stallions were fast enough, the first speed trial claimed the lives of the lethargic and the lazy."

Daring looked around, placing the book back where it had come from in the outer pocket of the bag. She noticed that the cracked stone floor ended suddenly ahead a few yards, and was replaced by a series of equally sized hexagonal tiles that went into a twisting tunnel. Daring bent in close to look at the tiles, unsure of their significance. She lightly pressed on one with a hoof and noticed that it was slightly loose. She did not note any kind of major reaction in the surrounding environment. though she had fully expected a trap of some sort, she had not sprung it with her small gesture. Cautiously, Daring stepped out onto the first tile. She shifted her entire weight onto it quickly, and it sank down completely. Daring's ears were at attention as she listened to small noises around her. They were simply small clicking sounds, but it alerted her attention nonetheless.

Daring's gaze rose to the ceiling above her, and her eyes widened. The pony leaped forward suddenly, just in time as the first gargantuan weight crashed down behind her. It shook the corridor with a rousing crash, and Daring's heart began racing she knew exactly what was happening now, and began bolting forwards down the tunnel at full throttle. Behind her she could hear the weights falling, and the noise of the crash seemed to be getting closer and closer as she continued to dash forwards. Daring's heart was beating faster than a rabbit's as she strained herself to keep going faster. She could not afford to slow at all, for each tablet she stepped on had a line that was ever so slightly shorter than the one before it.

Daring's mouth was dry as she panted, and her throat became sore. What was only a few terrifying seconds of extreme effort seemed to prolong into minutes and minutes, but at long last the end of the hexagonal tiles appeared, and Daring leaped out from the tunnel, and into another chamber. She felt exhausted from the sudden sprint, and she could feel a vein pulsing in her temple. Sliding onto the moist stone floor, Daring felt like resting for a short moment in the safety of this new area- a room that was much wider than a corridor. She took a few steps away from the center, leaning up against the statue of a pony chief that was placed against the wall. Daring took out her canteen and drank from it, enjoying the cleansing feeling of the cool water running down her parched throat. She hadn't really been prepared for that last part, she would need to pay closer attention to clues given both through the story and through observation of the area.

Suddenly there was another loud crash, very close to Daring. The pony was jolted from her state of semi-rest as another large weight crashed down next to the statue, just opposite Daring. It seemed like there was to be no rest for the weary after all.

****

"Get your dirty claws OFF of me!" was the shrill shout that woke Trenchoof from his dozing sleep. He looked up to see a chair being dragged into the tent with him, and on it a grayish pony. As Elise continues to struggle the gryphons thrust the chair down, and left the tent almost as quickly as they came.

"Well, how was that?" Trenchoof asked. Elise was shaking, almost as if she was crying. Her chair was faced away from Trenchoof's and she could not make any kind of eye contact with the sergeant. She heaved in several deep breaths, and it seemed to calm her down enough so that she could calmly talk to the other pony.

"The g-g-gryphons........ why?"

"It's ok, Elise," said Trenchoof, offering whatever kind of verbal reassurance he could.

"D-d-did they ask you anything?"

"No, they didn't ask me much at all," Trenchoof said, "Though I found out some stuff about them, trivial stuff. What'd they ask you?"

"They asked me about D-d-daring," stuttered Elise, still visibly shaken, "When I told them that I didn't know, they didn't believe me. They got very mean."

Trenchoof sighed. He had heard some talk about Daring, and according to Gwindor a team had been dispatched to find her, only to have several of them wind up dying. He hadn't expected that out of Daring.

"I didn't know very much about Daring," said Elise, taking deep breaths, "Why do they want her? What information are they after?"

"Well," said Trenchoof as he thought about it, "their plans seemed to account for disrupting our entire operation here. My guess is that they planned on keeping us here until their dig was over, and then sending us back home or something. I think they just wanted us completely out of the way while they analysed the ruins, so that they could ensure they'd get there first."

"And.... Daring?"

"Well," Trenchoof continued, "She obviously escaped, or wasn't caught along with the rest of us in the first place. She's the only one who the gryphons didn't catch last night, and I'm betting she's been giving them a hard time all morning. With any luck, she's gone to the city to call in some help."

"The city is miles and miles away, though," Elise mumbled, "I don't think she's gone all the way there yet, she might not even be headed there at all... how do you know her, again?"

"I don't," was Trenchoof's simple reply, "She came highly recommended by the museum, and I went with the suggestion. She's got a good track record, too. I mean, from an academic standpoint she's competent, but she's been around the world on digs and retrieving stuff, sometimes by herself. I also knew her father."

"Her father?"

"Yeah, old Mr. Brazen Do. I knew him from my time in the service, he and I were both part of the same company. He's a little bit older than I am, I think, but not by too much. He mentioned that he had a wife and a filly back at home- must've been Daring and her mother."

Trenchoof blinked a couple of times. He motioned for Elise to quiet down, and they both strained their ears. In the distance was the low humming of engines, and light chatter by some of the soldiers. Some of the engine noises were already growing quieter. Some of the gryphons were leaving.

"Elise, I need to ask, can you move at all?" asked Trenchoof. Elise nodded, her yellowish mane flopping down over her eyes. She blew it out of the way.

"Good. I see that one of the guards left an empty bottle on that desk behind you. If you can tip it over, see if you can break it. We can use the glass shards to cut through the rope."

"You're gonna try to escape?" mouthed Elise, raising an eyebrow. Trenchoof nodded.

****

Daring grunted and strained as she threw all of her weight into sliding the heavy statue along the ground. The stone pony was not attached to the floor, but its heavy weight made it quite a challenge to move. She tried her back, and she tried pressing forwards. The statue moved inch by inch, slowly but surely, until Daring was confident that it was underneath the weight that was once again resting on the ceiling. Daring took a step back, and wiped the sweat off from her face. She pressed her flank against the switch on the wall, the one which she had accidentally leaned against earlier and set the crashing weight down. This time, the gigantic stone weight fell, and Daring was prepared for it.

When it fell, it crushed the stone statue like it was paper. The head of the statue was detached from the rest, and most of the body was cracked and crumbled into gravel. The large stone weight actually had a face on it, now that Daring took a moment to look. It was a pony's face, contorted with rage and with widened eyes carved into the rock.

As Daring released the switch the rock was brought back up to the ceiling. The crushed form of the statue lay beneath it's shadow, but that wasn't Daring's concern. It was the head that she was after, and she found it only a few yards away.

The pony wrapped her front legs around it, and strained to pick it up. It was very uncomfortable to carry, especially when if forced her to walk using only her back legs, which was a very unsteady and discomforting way to walk. Daring set the statue's head down for a second. There had to be an easier way about this. The story had been about thinking outside the box, after all.

Looking around, Daring took a notice of everything in the wider chamber. There was a passageway beyond that was blocked by a very large spherical stone, not much unlike the one she had seen before. There were also swinging stones in the shape of unicorn's heads, also very similar to the one she had seen earlier. However, there were three of them, and they were swinging across the room horizontally. She had a hunch that if she could get them to either stop moving or to move in a direction perpendicular to their present course, then she could try to crack the stone blocking the path.

Daring kicked the statue's head with a hoof. This caused it to move slightly, and she decided that pushing it was much less of a wasted effort. There was a structure on the side of the chamber that looked like a half of a pipe, with a visible water flow down it. Daring consulted the small book for a moment, and read.

"Ikan's second trial pitted him against the big, buff stallions. He was not required to fight them, but rather to compete in a show of physical brawn. Many of the stallions tried to break the barrier with their own hooves, but they were unsuccessful. Ikan decided to ask one of them for help, and though it took several tries, he was finally able to bring one of the stallions over. The two had to work together, one stopping the flow with his hoof while the other bucked, and they were able to crack the barrier and allow all to pass on." Daring read. She looked back to the water flow.

"There's not any kind of illustration to help me out, but I'm willing to bet that the half-pipe is the flow the story refers to," she said to herself, "Only I don't have anypony else to back me up."

That's where the statue's head came in. Daring pushed against it. It was in the shape of a pony's head, and was not in the best shape to be rolled, but it did make it's way where she pushed albeit clumsily.

Once it was on the side, directly below the half-pipe, Daring braced herself and began lifting the head. The stone shape did not fit entierely into the half-pipe, but it was able to lodge itself in and stop up the flow of water. The water began pouring out from the sides of the half-pipe, and very little was going through to the other side, where the water had previously flowed into the wall. Daring looked up hopefully, and was happy to see that the stones had slowed in their swinging, a couple even stopping altogether.

Moving quickly, Daring got behind the now-hanging stones. They lined up perfectly when they weren't swinging, forming a straight line for the boulder that blocked the way. Taking out her whip, Daring slipped the chain around her hoof, and then proceeded to crack it, catching the end of the whip around the rope that suspended the rock nearest to her from the ceiling.

Daring tugged back, and just as before the rock came back with her. Daring had more space to wind back, and she took advantage of it. The story had mentioned bucking, but she felt this was a much better way to get the momentum. Daring flapped her wings, tugging at her whip and bringing the stone even farther back, until she felt she was as far as it would take her. She made a sharp upwards motion with her hoof, and the whip detached itself.

Almost on cue the stone began swinging in the opposite direction, picking up momentum on it's downwards swing. It slammed into the next one, which in turn began moving, which then hit the next one. The last stone in the line swung and hit the boulder square on, causing a loud sound and resulting in a crack forming. The crack spread down the middle of the spherical boulder, and within a moment it had cracked in two, revealing a gap through which Daring could now pass on to the next area. Daring grinned, and drank from her canteen.

The Boulder Run

"The next few trials tested Ikan's quick wit. Where the big stallions tried to get by with force, Ikan needed to rely on his reflexes and his smarts in order to succeed," read Daring. She placed the book back into her bag, shaking her head.

"A whole lotta good that will do me," Daring said. She paused for a moment, raising an ear and listening. She thought she had heard something, a voice or some kind of yelling in the far distance. She doubted it, though, as there had not been any ponies here in the past few centuries at least.

Ahead was another tunnel, this time more smooth and circular rather than sharp and angular. It seemed more like a worm's tunnel or a cave than any kind of a corridor used for travel. It was flat for the most part, as far as Daring could see. She trotted down the tunnel, hooves striking the cold stone and making a reverberating sound that echoed. The light was getting dimmer, and Daring had to squint to try to see where the tunnel turned.

It turned out that she didn't need to squint after all. What she had thought was a trick of the light actually was just another huge boulder. This one was almost as wide as the tunnel itself. The written form of the legend had not been very specific on this part of the trials, and so what her next action should be was anypony's best guess.

As there was nowhere else to go but backwards, Daring pushed against the spherical boulder, and after a few strenuous heaves it gave, rolling over the edge and down the tunnel. Daring followed it, slowing down as the tunnel sloped and then leveled off. This turned out to be a good thing, as the tunnel turned sharply to the right, and a large circular hole prevented her from turning the corner.

Daring rolled her eyes. It was a distance that could be jumped by an earth pony or a unicorn, and as a pegasus it was no big threat at all. Flapping her wings, Daring cruised over the pit and landed on the other side.

"That wasn't so hard," she remarked, and took a step forward. A sudden rumbling made her pause. The tunnel sloped downwards once again, and there were no big weights poised above her. The pony turned around, and saw only the empty pit behind her. Shrugging, she continued forward.

The rumbling sound increased in intensity, and at one point even seemed to be right beside her, and then right above her, before sounding as if it was above and behind. At this point, Daring looked back again, and gasped. There was a slope above her head, and the looming form of the boulder grew larger and larger, poised to drop down on top of her.

With no time left to think about it, Daring began rushing forward. There was a loud thud as the boulder landed directly behind her, and a rumbling that only grew louder as the huge rock picked up momentum.

Daring sprinted like she had never sprinted before, bolting ahead and down the tunnel. As it sloped downwards still, she felt her hooves slip as they struck the rocky floor, but she paid it no mind. She had to go FASTER.

Daring glanced back, teeth clenched. The boulder was bouncing off from imperfections in the tunnel, still bounding towards her at a frightening pace. She turned her head back just in time to see a set of sharp spikes shoot out from the bottom of the tunnel where a series of holes had been a moment before. Daring leaped up and over these spikes, and kept going. She heard the crunching sound of the boulder rolling over them less than a second after she had jumped. It was getting closer.

A wide pit lay before her now. On the other side was safety: a flat surface and a door that lead to the next chamber, albeit closed. There were vines crossing back and forth above the pit, and the other side seemed very far away. Almost as soon as she saw it all she was out of space to run, and so Daring did the instinctive thing anypony would have done in her situation. She jumped, hoping that she could land on the other side. The boulder crashed into the sides of the pit and fell, disappearing into the darkness. Daring cried out as she too fell. Though she had spread her wings to fly over, a vine had gotten caught on her back leg, and she found herself dangling dangerously over the edge of the pit.

Daring gulped, and kicked at the vine. It didn't give. At the moment she was caught in it, not falling but without any way of touching the opposite side. She was suspended in the middle of the open pit by the vines.

With her free hooves Daring rummaged until she had produced a knife. It was in need of a sharpening, but it would do in this situation. She clenched the handle in her mouth and brought the blade up to the vine, slicing into the plant's fibers and freeing her hoof. As soon as she had done so, her wings took over, keeping herself aloft and flying herself back to the top, where she landed on the other side of the pit.

"I hate boulders," Daring remarked, "Not as much as snakes, but boulders are starting to get to me."

****

"Do you have a big enough shard?" asked Trenchoof, as he backed his chair towards Elise. The blonde pony nodded, gripping a jagged piece of glass with her teeth. She bent her head in close, and put pressure onto the rope holding Trenchoof's hooves to the chair with the sharp edge of the glass shard. She moved her head back and forth, working the sharp glass like a knife until it had cut through the first piece of rope. From there, she cut down a little lower on the same knot, until the rope gave way and Trenchoof's hooves were free. Elise stuck her head out, as Trenchoof turned around. The stallion stuck his out, too, and tenderly took the shard by his teeth.

After having transferred the piece of glass Elise turned around, and it was her turn to be freed. The two ponies worked like this for the next few minutes. First Elise had freed Trenchoof's front hooves, then she had her front hooves freed. She then freed his back legs, one at a time, and he returned the favor. After several more minutes each of them had also freed the other around the midsection, and they could both move freely.

"Alright, so we're free," Elise remarked, "but what's the plan for getting out of here?"

"Well," said Trenchoof, picking up his campaign hat off the ground and dusting it off reverently, "The gryphons are sending most of their diggers out now, and I'm willing to bet that their armed guard is going to go with them. That'll leave them with a minimal armed guard here to be watching us." He paused to place his campaign hat back atop his head, brushing his mane out from around his eyes.

"What about the ones right outside?" asked Elise, "I don't think they'll just happen to look the other way while we dash for the jungle."

"We will have to lay low for a bit," Trenchoof noted, nodding his head, "But If we can go under and out from the back side I think we'll have a better shot."

****

"The book said that there were a few trials that tested Ikan's wit," Daring said to herself, re-reading the passage, "That's gotta be more then two, but way less than five. Three trials? Four?"

She had completed one of the vague ones already, having a narrow escape from a great boulder. Daring entered the next chamber through the door (which slid aside at the press of a stone switch) only to see an area that looked like it had been reclaimed by the forest. Part of the ceiling had fallen in, and bright sunlight illuminated most of the chamber. Grass, vines, jungle flowers, and even some medium-sized shrubs and bushes grew up all around the chamber, hiding the architecture underneath a blanket of green. Bright scarlet macaws had made their nest in a corner, while a snake was slithering near Daring's hooves.

Upon seeing the snake, Daring recoiled instantly, crying out in alarm. Though it was a common snake and likely not poisonous, her heart began racing. She felt very anxious around snakes in general, and she didn't really know why. It was an irrational fear perhaps: a phobia.

"G-g-get back!" Daring warned, even as she did the same by taking several steps away from the snake. The reptile hissed, causing Daring to cry out once more. She clenched her teeth, knowing that the only way to get past the creature was to jump over it. She felt terrible, however, almost nauseous as the little serpent slithered it's way closer to her.

Daring jumped, leaping right over the snake and then not stopping until she had reached the opposite wall. She could see that there was a way out of the chamber, where some of the wall had fallen away. She looked about the area she was in once more, her heartbeat subsiding. There was some kind of large shape in the center, which looked circular and wheel-like. It was flat against the ground, and it seemed to have spokes sticking out of the side. Daring glanced at the area where the wall had fallen away. There were chains stuck up in the ceiling, and beyond it proceeded like a new corridor.

"Whatever this trial was meant to be, it isn't anymore," Daring remarked. The trial had likely had something to do with turning the wheel or whatever was in the center in order to lift the wall aside and reveal an exit. Since the area had collapsed and no longer served as an obstacle, Daring was able to pass without much trouble. Not too bad of a break, right?

Daring entered the next corridor, hoping and praying that there wouldn't be some kind of falling weight or boulder behind her to force her to run at breakneck speed once more. As she walked her muscles tensed up, ready to go full throttle at the slightest indication of another trap.

The trap never came. Daring entered the next area and was greeted by the sight of a massive snake's head made out of stone, sitting above a circular stone ring and a log that stood straight up. Daring consulted the book once again, and to her surprise it did have something to say about this trial. Apparently there should have been something in that last corridor after all.

"Ikan noticed that the total number of competing stallions began to dwindle. As he reached the next trial, his ability to find alternate solutions helped him out. Where other stallions tried the most direct approach, Ikan took the time to take everything in before setting to work. In the end it was him who was able to light the pillar aflame." read Daring.

"So, I've got to light that log on fire somehow," Daring noted, "Good thing I've got a piece of flint and some steel. Now all I need is some tinder and kindling..."

Fangs and Beaks

Daring noticed that there was a small amount of some kind of a black powder near the base of the log. The pony leaned in closed to it, and inspected the material. There was no question about it, it was the precursor to the black powder that was commonly used in old-fashioned guns. While the more modern form of black powder was believed to have been invented in Prance, here was an example of an ancient equivalent. What a discovery!

Daring took the piece of flint and the piece of steel and separated them, one in each hoof. She held them over the powder, and began striking the flint with the piece of high-carbon steel. Chips of rock broke off and flew every which way, but after a few strikes it was sparks that began flying. As one landed in the powder, Daring backed away quickly. The powder ignited, and a burst of flame shot up.

To Daring's disappointment, the fire did not reach high up on the log at all, nor did it manage to actually ignite the wood. The pony looked around, figuring that there would be something else she could use for tinder or kindling. Her eyes fell on the gargantuan statue of the snake, a foreboding presence in the room that made her feel rather small and intimidated.

She did notice something odd about the statue, however. One of the fangs was broken off at the very tip. There was a hole in the tooth that revealed that it was hollow, and the affected tooth was on the left side of the snake's head, directly over where Daring had just been, trying to ignite the powder. Daring squinted, looking from the scorch mark in the stone where the black powder had erupted into flame, and the broken tooth. As she came to a realization, she struck the ground with a hoof.

"That's it!" Daring exclaimed, "The poison comes out through the fangs of a real snake, and that's where the black powder comes out, too! Now all I need to do is to break the tip off the other one."

She had the option of simply flying up and kicking with her hoof, but she doubted that it would break the stone tip off from the remaining fang. There was a spiraling staircase on either side of the statue, which went up to a section above in the chamber that served as a balcony, almost level with the head of the statue. Perhaps something up there held the answer?

Daring investigated. She went for the staircase to her right, the one that would be on the right of the statue, where the snake's intact fang still was. The stone steps spiraled upwards, and almost made one feel dizzy to walk up. Daring ran, and had to stop herself suddenly when the staircase abruptly ended several yards away from the balcony. The balcony itself was supported by pillars from below, yet did not connect to the staircase all the way. The reason was plain to see by the broken pieces of stone on the bottom level where the stairs should have been. The missing steps had broken off long ago.

Daring jumped the remaining distance, landing safely on the right wing of the balcony. Glancing around this previously unseen level to the chamber revealed a number of things. Firstly, there were carvings in the wall. There was a sizable hole in the ceiling about as wide around as a pony's body, with vines reaching down. It was likely a result of the decay of time rather than a part of the trial itself.

There was some kind of a stone platform sticking out of the wall, and from what Daring could see there was another on the other side, though it had been pressed in. Daring took a moment to look at the carvings, interpreting the meaning. They seemed to be some kind of instructions, showing a generic pony with his front hooves raised pressing against what looked like the platform protruding from the wall. Further on in the carving set a snake could be seen, with its head slightly lowered, as if it was biting down or spraying venom. Daring knew what this meant- if she could push the platform in it would activate some kind of system that makes the statue release it's venom, or the black powder.

Daring trotted over to the platform. It's base rested against the top of the balcony, and the section protruding was in the shape of a two-meter cube. Daring licked her lips, and tensed herself. She reared back, placing her front hooves against the stone, and pushed in.

The effort necessary to get the block to push in was great. Daring's eyes bulged, and one could have seen the vein pulsing in her temple. The pony grunted, groaned, and pressed with all her might, but the block only moved a portion of the way it needed to. Daring stopped, catching her breath for a moment. She took her canteen out and drank some of the water.

"Alright," Daring said to herself, "Let's work smarter, not harder." She turned around, having her strong back legs facing the block. She may not have been a farmer, but her hind legs could deliver a stronger blow than pushing with her front. Daring prepared herself again, this time moving her head from side to side and loosening her neck muscles, arching her back and preparing to kick.

Daring kicked back, and the block moved a few inches. She reared back and kicked again, and it slid in just a bit further. She kicked again, again, again, and little by little the stone block slid further into the wall, until the edges disappeared into the slot that had been behind them and Daring needed to kick no more.

Daring panted, wiping the sweat off from her face and lifting up the brim of her pith helmet to try to let some of the built-up heat escape. She had been doing a lot of strenuous activity over the course of the past day, and it was only the early afternoon. Nevertheless, it was starting to take it's toll, and Daring could feel the pangs from her sore legs.

She watched as the statue became animated, it's head dropping down. As it dropped down, the right fang cracked over the top of the log, covering it in black powder and causing a pile to start at the base. The snake statue did not recoil again, though Daring could see the chains that held it aloft from the back as they tried to lift it. The old chains were unready to lift the statue after so many years, and promptly snapped. The chains disappeared into the wall, while the snake statue remained halfway upright, kept from falling down by the top of the log.

Daring descended the stairs once again, having to leap once to get onto them but making it down to the base of the log in no time. She took out her flint and her steel, and bent over the larger pile of black powder. As she prepared to strike, she heard a noise against the wall. It was a deep thumping sound, as some of the stones began to shift. On the other side was muffled yelling, and some screeches. Avian screeches.

"They're here?" Daring mouthed, grimacing. She was in deep trouble if the gryphons were coming. She had to move faster and get to the next chamber before they did, so that she could try to keep a death trap between herself and them, hopefully deterring the from coming after her.

Daring struck the steel to the piece of flint. As she did, a stone block fell in, opening a hole to the outside. She struck again, and as she did she heard some kind of yelling.

"There's that pony in there! Daring Do is inside the chamber! Grigory, prepare to fire the cannon!"

Daring struck the stone faster and faster, her heart racing. In her excited haste, she was not producing sparks. There was a mechanical sound from outside, and just as she managed to make a spark there was a thundering crash as part of the wall to her left exploded. A tank round had been fired through the opening.

The spark caught, and the black powder erupted in a column of fire and smoke. The gryphons probably were unable to tell if their tank had caused it or not. Daring looked at the hole the tank had blown in the wall, but there was noting but chains, ancient pulleys and mechanism that had made the trial function in the first place.

There was a crashing sound as the wall on the other side gave way. The gryphon's battle tank had crashed through, and now sat in the same chamber as Daring and the buring log. The log was ashen now, its sides becoming charred and brittle. The powder-induced explosion had turned into a steady burn.

With no time left, Daring was desperate for a way out. She did the only thing she could. She reared back and kicked the burning log. Hard. The charred form snapped, and the snake's head began a free fall towards the ground, poised to land right where Daring was at the base. The bottom end of the log slipped through the hole, and for a brief moment there was an opening in the floor of the chamber, and an opportunity to leap through before the statue crashed down.

It was an opportunity Daring Do did not waste the archaeologist pony was through in a heartbeat, and the statue crushed where she had been just milliseconds earlier. The gryphons were storming into the chamber, some of their trucks entering and spraying the fires out with water from the river, but daring was nowhere to be seen.

Daring fell down for a few moments before she spread her wings, circling around the next area carefully. She was completely underground by now, where there had to have been some kind of wall facing out into the jungle with the previous trial. This new chamber was very wide, and there was some kind of big circular area in the center that was sunk down lower than the rest. It almost looked like a pool, but there was neither water nor signs that there had been water. There were discs embedded into the floor of the large embedded circle, and it rather looked like some kind of sports field. Daring came in for a landing on the side of the raised level, leaning against the wall for support. That had been too close, and she needed to find a way to get through this BEFORE the gryphons could move the statue and come after her.

The Ball Court

Trenchoof trampled through the underbrush quickly, ducking down underneath the thick, low branches that crowded his sight. Elise was not far behind him, carefully climbing up and over the path he cut through the woods for her.

"It sure is hard to travel in this stuff," Trenchoof remarked. Elise looked around her, eyes narrowing. She did not recognize much of the forest around her. They must have been in a new area, one that they hadn't traveled in before.

"What if we get ourselves lost?" asked Elise. Trenchoof laughed lightly.

"I'd rather be lost then captive," he said, "There's something to be said for being the master of your own destiny. I'd rather have to stay alive and work my way back to civilization slowly then be at the mercy of a foreign government, particularly one that doesn't like me as a past enemy."

"Alright," Elise agreed. The two continued walking for a distance, until they crossed a wide path that had been sliced through the woods. The trees and brush had been flattened almost in what looked like a road. The mud was pressed down, and in it marks that looked like they had been made by a tread of some kind.

"Their tank's been through here," noted Trenchoof. Elise looked up the newly carved path through the woods, and down it. She felt like using it for travel, as it would be a lot easier than walking through downed trees and overgrown plant matter.

"Suppose we should follow it?"

"Possibly," Trenchoof said, "If we can go in the opposite direction of the tank then we can wind up near the river, where it was brought ashore. It'd be REALLY easy to escape down the river! The only thing is, which way should we go?"

Elise leaned in, looking at the tank treads. She had an idea of what it would look like going forward and so she made her judgement based off of that. The pony squinted, and a moment later was confident she knew where the tank had come from, and where it was going.

"That way's our best shot," said Elise, pointing to the left. "If we follow the tracks I bet we'll reach the river's edge within the hour."

"Good call, Elise!" encouraged Trenchoof, following her lead.

****

Daring was in quite the pickle. The passage to the next chamber would not open unless she was to play whatever game the underground ball court was designed for. She quickly took the book out and read.

"Ikan loved the ball game. As a colt he had always enjoyed a game of ball, but the large scale proved dangerous. Several of the other contestants were crushed flat before they even had the chance to try for a goal. By the time the game had been played out, there were only three contestants left, Ikan being one of them and the helpful stallion from earlier another," Daring read. She closed the book and placed it back, just as a piece of the ceiling fell down. Above her she could hear the gryphons working. They wouldn't be busy for very long, she could tell. She needed to play this game of ball in order to get past, but what were the rules?

"Ok, so all I know is that there's the possibility of getting crushed in this game. What fun," Daring said to herself. The legend had said nothing about how the game was played or how to win, though the latter included making goals. Daring examined the court once more.

There was a round opening on the side of the wall, which was outlined and plated with gold. No doubt it was the goal, and there was only one of them. The sunken court was tiled on the ground, though some had cracked and dirt was showing in places. There were discs embedded into the bottom level, and doors seemed to lay on each corner of the pit.

There was a wheel laying on it's side near to where Daring was, above the court. Spokes stuck out of the side. She walked over to this, pressing against the wheel's spokes and tryign to turn it counterclockwise. It didn't budge. Daring turned, and licked her lips, throwing her weight against the spoke on the other side, now turning the wheel clockwise. This time it moved, and as Daring stepped forward she kept turning the wheel, until something rumbled deep down below her hooves. Daring took a step back, expecting something bad to happen, but nothing did. To her surprise, little did. There was a creaking sound to her left, and as the pony turned she saw the discs embedded into the court begin to spin.

"Alright, so it's active now. How do I know what I'm supposed to throw to the goal?" Daring wondered. She noticed the buttons against the wall's edge. There was five in all, two green ones on each side and one made of gold in the center. The buttons were really dyed stone of some kind, similar to the block she had pressed into the wall to activate the snake, only much smaller.

Daring approached them, and pressed each one in turn. She tried the two green ones on the right. There was a rumbling, but little happened. Nothing appeared on the court. She tried the green ones to the left. Again there was a dual rumbling, but nothing flew out onto the court. Finally, Daring pressed the gold switch in the center. This time, all of the doors slid open. To her horror, Daring saw four boulders roll out onto the court, each one the size of the one that had chased her. In the center was a small, round, golden ball. It was the ball she had to score with!

Unfortunately, that was when the gryphons began descending.

A total of three gryphons came down after her. They each held in their talons some kind of gun, and they landed almost right on top of Daring. She took the hint and dashed onto the ball court itself, chasing after the golden orb, teeth gritted. The gryhpons behind her may have been momentarily, though Daring knew they would figure it out in time.

And that they did. Within the first five seconds Daring heard shots ring out. She positioned herself on the other side of one of the rolling rocks, running around while trying not to get hit by bullets or crushed by one of the great boulders. The gryphon's inability to effectively shoot her was beginning to cause them frustration. Daring got a glimpse of one of them throwing their guns down in frustration.

They were not quitting, though. To the pony's shock, they were coming after her themselves. The three gryphons swooped over, wings spread, and circled over the pit of the ball court. Daring attempted to glance up at them, but was too busy dodging the four different boulders that were rocketing across the court to look for any significant amount of time.

With a screech, one of the gryphons began an attack run, his from talons outstretched ahead of him while his back paws were tucked in to give swifter movement through the air. Daring's eyes widened as she noticed the approaching shape. She swerved to the left, and felt the rush of air next to her as the gryphon tried to claw thin air.

Daring breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to the right again in order to get out of the path of a rock that had been headed towards her. The big form just lumbered past, rolling over one of the spinning discs and picking up momentum once again.

Daring felt a sudden stab of pain as she felt something rip through both her shirt and her skin on her back. One of the gryphons had raked his claws across the top of her back, and caused Daring to stumble.

"Gah!" the pony cried out as she was suddenly grasped by strong talons. Two of the three gryphon soldiers had grabbed onto her, and they were lifting her up kicking and screaming.

Daring fought back, lashing out with her hooves and trying to strike them. The gryphons either took the hit or jerked her around, making her strikes simply turn into mid-air flails. The pony wriggled around, and flapped her wings as hard as she could. The triangle that she and the two gryphons formed moved down suddenly, back towards the court, and she felt the stone floor rush up to meet her suddenly as she landed. She heard a screech to her side, followed by a sickening crunch. Daring turned her head to see that one of the four boulders was almost on top of her. Jumping up, Daring flew up and over the boulder, taking to the sky unhindered.

The boulder had a red streak on it, which belonged to the gryphon it had crushed a moment before. The flattened form of the soldier could be seen on the bottom of the court, his head squashed flat and his beak broken and cracked. Daring turned her eyes away from the grisly sight, only to catch the sudden motion of one of the other soldiers rushing at her for another attack. Daring yelped, and dived down onto the court where she was harder to hit. The talons of the attacking gryphon missed Daring, but struck the top of one of the rocks.The frustrated gryphon circled again from above, trying to get an attack in edgewise.

Daring had two gryphons to deal with, and she found it difficult to coordinate boulder-dodging with talon-dodging, especially since the attacks were from two different directions. Her opportunity presented itself with a gold ball that suddenly rushed across her field of vision. It was about the size of a bowling ball, and it weaved around the larger boulders erratically. Now that Daring could see the ball, she could catch it. She dashed to her right, weaving around one of the larger rocks and there on the other side was the gold ball. Daring scooped it up under one of her front legs. The goal was just above her, she could make it if she flew up there, but the other two gryphons had not let up their attacks yet.

Another sharp pang was felt on Daring's back, as another attack caused the gryphons talons to rake across her, ripping up the fabric of the shirt and cutting into her skin. Daring limped over to the right, and appeared as if she would fall over sideways for a second as she winced and gritted her teeth.

With a sudden burst of energy Daring took off skyward, and the gryphons pursued. Around the chamber they flew, closer to the edges than any of them really wanted to be. Daring's lead on the gryphons waned with every second as the larger creatures beat their wings, intent on catching her.

A round opening revealed itself as the three of them rushed along the length of the wall. The opening was lined with a type of gold, and Daring suddenly swerved towards it, plunging the gold ball into the hole. The gryphons overshot, and turned to pursue her in this direction. Daring had begun a dive towards the ground, and the gryphons followed her. Faster and faster she flew, her eyes watering. The stone floor rushed up to meet her very fast in the chamber, and so she turned sharply upwards. The soldiers cried out as they missed her yet again, one of them smashing his face into the stone.

The chamber began rumbling, and the wall on the far side split open, revealing a small passageway to another chamber. The passageway was very small, and hugged the ground. Daring swerved in midair towards it, the gryphons in pursuit. Daring dove down towards the small opening, which was only large enough for a very small pony to fit through. Daring braced herself, and rocketed through the hole, emerging on the other side in yet another chamber. The gryphons attempted to pursue, but the opening was much too small for their larger forms.

On the other side, Daring panted. She winced again, feeling the pangs in her back where she had gotten cut with the sharp claws of the soldier's talons. That had been close, way too close. The path ahead was yet another corridor. It was dark, moist, and Daring could not see very much. Fortunately, it seemed that there was a torch available to her. Resting on the side of the wall to her right was a piece of wood.

"There's nothing to light up," Daring remarked, frowning. She would have to improvise. She picked up the torch, and set it down on the ground. She then reached back and grabbed hold of the bottom of her khaki adventurer's shirt. Pulling with her hooves and making tears in the fabric, Daring was able to take a strip off from the very back of the garment, and though it was now left with ragged edges in addition to the slices and the cuts from the gryphon's talons, Daring could now wrap the top of the torch in something ignitable.

****

After what seemed like eons, the pair of ponies made it to the end of the trail. They stepped out from the brus, fully expecting to see the river and docks, but were instead greeted with a small clearing, a monstrous tank, and about twenty four armed gryphons.

"What in the blazes?" Trenchoof stuttered before being forcibly grabbed by a pair of bulky soldiers. Their claws were excellent at grasping, and breaking free from the both of them was beyond his ability, as hard as he did try.

"Elise, run!" he grunted. Elise made no movement, but stood still. Trenchoof opened his eyes and looked at her, resigned. The two stared at each other for a moment. No gryphon was attempting to grab Elise. Then, slowly, a smirk slid across the mare's face.

"You've done well," came a voice, and Gwindor himself emerged from the ranks, eyeing Elise. "Your assistance in all of this has not gone unnoticed, I assure you."

"You- you- you," Trenchoof said, stumbling over his own words. His expression was one of shock, slowly transforming into one of complete and total rage. The usually calm, collected stallion now had a vein throbbing at his temple.

"YOU TRAITOUROUS SWINE! HOW COULD YOU HELP THESE- THESE- THINGS?!" bellowed Trenchoof, looking angrily at Elsie. The blonde-maned pony took a step back, raising her eyebrows, but still wearing the same confident sneer on her face.

"There.... there's a special place in Tartarus for the traitors. I hope you realize that you've lowered yourself to that level by associating with this kind- the slime of the Earth!" Trenchoof continued, out of breath from his sudden passionate outburst. He coughed a few time, and began wheezing. None of the soldiers interrupted him, but simply waited for him to speak his piece.

"You were a great assistant. Since Hammer fell ill, you've been not only filling in his work but exceeding expectations. I had very high hopes for you. In my eyes, Elise, you had potential. But not anymore. Now I see you as you truly are: a greedy, arrogant, pretentious bitch who is fine with lowering herself to the lowest level of morality. You're conniving with the lowest of scum. I have more respect for the broken, washed up addict. I have more respect for thieves and bandits. You? You're as good as dead to me now,"

"Shut him up, I'm tired of listening to the manure coming out of his mouth," Gwindor said, and with the click of a gun that was fixated on the poor stallion's head, he stopped his rant. All he could do was sit and glare at Elise, who simply smiled back. The gryphons who were not busy containing Trenchoof now set about other tasks, preparing the tank and loading supplies (shovels, picks, gunpowder, dynamite, and surveying tools) into the back of a truck.

"What about the other one, Daring Do?" Elise asked. Gwindor turned to look at her, and scratched the bottom of his beak.

"What of her?"

"Have you and your soldiers captured her yet? She seemed to me to be quite dangerous," Elise stated. Gwindor nodded.

"She is. I've received reports that there has been an engagement. This tank team here just returned from the dig site to pick up our little Trench-squatting friend. We're going back to the dig site shortly. I would like you to try and get Daring to come out. Convince her that you and Trenchoof have got reinforcements."

"I can do that," Elise said, "But If I do, then I expect some extra compensation. The deal was for the leader, not all the various other ponies involved in this."

"That can be arranged," Gwindor said. He proceeded to explain the plan.

"We'll have the tank shrouded in branches to supplement its camoflague. She won't see it at all. What I need you to do is to lure her out, and then get her to stand on a spot we've marked in the dirt. When she's there, you'd better get your flank moving."

Betrayal

Daring placed her torch down in a stone trough, and the powder it contained erupted in a blazing inferno. The chamber she had entered was spacious, but it was dark. The light from the burning trough spread throughout the chamber, making lines of fire along the walls and down the center as the flames spread down the system of troughs.

The chamber glowed bright red from the fire's light, and Daring's eyes gleamed as she saw what was in the chamber. To her surprise, the entire chamber was lined with artifacts, valuable antiques and items of cultural significance to the area. Some were made out of gold, some were merely scrolls and documents, but the massive quantity of history contained in this room made Daring's archaeologist side jump inwardly in delight.

She referred to the story once more. The booklet was at its last page, and Daring read.

"Ikan made a goal during the ball game, and was allowed to proceed. However, the one last contestant facing against him was not as lucky. The stallion (who was the same to have helped him earlier) found himself injured. In a show of compassion, Ikan went back and helped him out from the ball court, risking his own life to help another. Together, the two went on the the chamber of the treasures, where Ikan was received as a hero. The young colt had done it! He was installed as the newest king, and the other stallion became a very high ranking advisor to Ikan. Both lived a very, very long time and-"

CRASH

Something clattered down from the ball court, into the corridor Daring had been in earlier. Wary, Daring looked back to poke her head around the corner and see what it was. She was fully expecting to come face-to-beak with an angry Gryphon, but instead she saw who else but Elise Stiflehock!

"Daring, you're alive!" Elise exclaimed, grabbing the pony in a gripping hug. Daring smiled back, greeting Elise just as warmly.

"Elise, what's this? How are- how did you?" Daring sputtered, but Elise held a hoof up.

"I'll explain it in detail in a moment. For now, rest assured that we have a way of getting out. Trenchoofand I escaped from the camp, and we got rid of the last of the guards outside this... temple building," explained Elise, "We've got a ten minute window to vacate the area, if we hurry we can get you out with us before some reinforcements show up."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Daring said. She gave the treasure chamber one last glance.

"We've got to make sure that we come back for this before the Gryphons raid the chamber and take it all back to their homeland overseas. There's so much history here..."

"That's great, Daring," Elise said, "We'll make a point of that. Here, you're a pegasus, fly up to that hole and then send something down for me- don't you have a rope?"

"A whip, yeah," responded Daring, nodding. She bent her back hooves, and kicked off, flying up from the ground of the now-still ball court to the hole that had been created in the ceiling. She landed on the stone floor, and sure enough, there were no gryphons around. Elise seemed to be right.

"Alright, I'm gonna send it down, grab on tightly," called Daring, taking her whip out and placing the chain over her hoof. She didn't crack it, but rather allowed the end to fall down into the hole. She got closer and closer to the edge, allowing the whip to extend and reach down into the chamber, close enough to the ground to allow Elise to grab on. She did, and the burden of the whip increased dramatically.

"I've got you," Daring grunted, squinting her eyes and pulling back. She grabbed her right hoof with her left for more support, and tugged backwards. Her legs dug into the ground, scraping the dirt and the dust, and sure enough Elise's head emerged from the hole, followed by the rest of the pony herself.

"Ok, now where did you say was the best way out?"asked Daring, coiling the whip up and placing it back where it had come from. Elise was panting, despite her having not done most of the work. She pointed out through the hole that had been blown in the wall earlier by a tank round.

"Wait for me, though," Elise said, "I've got to find Trenchoof and make sure we still have a clear shot from here to the river."

"Alright, just give me a signal when it's alright to make a run for it, ok?" saked Daring. Elsie nodded, and walked out through the hole in the wall.

The other side of the hole in the wall saw Daring step out into the crisp afternoon air. It was as humid as ever, and not a sound could be heard except for the ambience of the creatures that inhabited the rainforest. The buzz of the mosquitos, the chirping of birds, the far-off howling of monkeys seemed to fade into the background.

"We have to be very quiet, and quick," Elise whispered.

"You think there's gryphons around?" Daring responded, and Elise shook her head.

"No, but on the offchance there is, keep a low profile. Stand against that tree over there while I confirm that the coast is clear with threnchoof," Elsie whispered, "He's in the bushes."

Daring nodded, and took a few steps backwards, leaning against a nearby tree that Elise had pointed out. The grayish mare dissappeared into the bushes, and Daring waited. And waited.

The background chirping did little to distract Daring from small noises. A twig snapped, and her ears perked up. That wasn't an animal. Something felt very wrong about the situation, and Elise's drawn out disappearance made Daring feel uncomfortable being left alone where there had been enemies not very long ago. Daring scanned the trees, lookign for some motion. Perhaps Elsie would make a hoof motion from the bushes. There wasn't much to see apart from some flowers, vines, and shrubs. A macaw took flight from somewhere to Daring's left, and then perched on something to her left that was protruding from the trees. What was it? It was long, and it had a hollow center. With a sinking realization Daring realized that the barrel was fixed on her. With a yelp, Daring jumped backwards and flapped her wings just as the cannon erupted in a blaze of fire and smoke. The shell blasted where the pony had been just moments before, sending a shockwave tearing through her and slamming her violently up against the stone wall. Daring heard the crunch of broken rib bones, and her wings failed her.

The world looked different from this position. She was laying on her side, unable to get up. Her ears rang, and she couldn't hear anything else other thasn the steady, monotonous whine. The vibrant colors of the rainforest seemed dulled and gray. She could barely make out the motion of a tank emerging from its camoflague, and of Elise hopping inside. The sound was coming back now, and Daring could make out some speech.

"Daring, no!"

"Shut up, your friend is dead. Wailing won't bring her back."

"Not only are you a traitor, but you're an accomplice to murder!"

"Shut up, Trenchoof. I'd have the gryphons kick you out of this tank and do the same thing to you in a hearbeat."

That was Elise's voice. That meant that she.... she had set this whole thing up purposely. She had betrayed her, and now she would benefit from having killed her.

I'm not dead, though, thought Daring, why is everypony acting like I've been blown to bits?

"She hasn't moved at all, Herr Gwindor. I think our work here is done."

"Very well, roll out!"

The tank's engines roared to life, and the massive machine of war turned on its treads, disappearing out of sight down the trail. After a few seconds, Daring released her breath. Her vision was slowly returning to normal, and the shock from the blast was wearing off. She was able to stand up, and shake her head in an attempt to clear the headache.

Oof. Her chest hurt. She had broken something real bad. She couldn't stop, though. Trenchoof was in that tank, and Elise was a traitor. Perhaps Daring was not in her best state of mind, for the idea in her head at that moment was brash, and would be suicidal for anypony to attempt. Anypony except Daring Do, that is.

She was going after them.

Finale!

The air whipped through her grayish hair. Daring's wings propelled her forward at thundering speeds. Her torn jacket flapped in the breeze, and her helmet was pressed back. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself harder, and the trees zoomed past in a blur of green and brown.

"We're going to drop this one off and keep him down inside the sub," Gwindor said over the radio. Trenchoof was in the back of the truck, which was ahead of the tank in the small convoy.

"Gwindor, sir, there ist... Daring ist behind us!" a voice said over the radio from the Tank. In the convoy, there was a tank in the back, a truck, and another truck ahead of that. Needless to say, Gwindor was enraged.

"How is she not dead?!" he growled, "Ugh... finish her off!"

The tank gunner switched over to using the lighter weapons mounted on the top of the tank. He emerged, white feathered head standing out from the greenish paintjob of the machine. He grabbed ahold of the machine gun, and swivelled back to face the oncoming target. The soldier paused for a moment, confused. Daring was not anywhere in sight. He narrowed his eyes, looking carefully for her to emerge somewhere. As soon as she was within vision, he would...

A sudden kick to the throat took the gunner out of action immediately. He fell back down into the tank, gargling and foaming at the beak. Daring landed on top of the moving vehicle, waiting. Another gryphon stuck his head out, and she kicked quickly. She missed, and her hoof merely glanced off the top of his helmet. It was enough to get the gryphon to wise up, and he went back down into the tank, closing the hatch.

The tank swerved beneath Daring, making a zig-zag down the path cut through the forest. The sudden movement change threw her off balance, and she felt herself sliding one way, before siding back the other way once again. Daring gritted her teeth, and hung on as tightly as she could. In another attempt to shake her off, the tank stopped suddenly. Daring felt herself sliding, and tumble off from the top of the machine's turret. She was whipped by low hanging vines, but she managed to keep on the vehicle by wrapping her hooves around the barrel of the cannon.

The hatch opened once more, and this time a gryphon emerged with a small gun clutched in his talons. He leveled the pistol so that it was pointing towards Daring. The bullet fired, but it only glanced off the metal of the cannon as Daring took off with a grayish streak. The gryphon swore, and tried to follow her with his gun, but he had lost sight of the pony. A sharp pain to the back of the skull was the last thing he would have remembered feeling before blacking out, as a kick to the un-helmeted head was enough to render him unconscious. As Daring moved the limp soldier aside and descended through the hatch, she was met with a not-so-friendly reception committee.

The tank swerved and sped up as the insides were turned upside down by the brawl occuring within it. The motions were erratic at best, and at times even chaotic. Inside the tank, Daring found herself in a tough fight. Clawed arms flailed, and her hooves struck out at almost anything she could hit. There were three other gryhpons in the tank with her, attempting to take her out, but one by one they succumbed to repeated strikes.

Daring pushed the limp form of the gryphon who had been driving the tank out of the way, and slid into the seat. She furrowed her eyebrows, and focused on the controls. It was very different from anything she has seen before, consisting mostly of levers and switches. One would turn it one way, and another lever would turn it the other. The third controlled forward velocity. This lever was the one that Daring slammed up. The engine began roaring, and the tank jolted forwards with a new burst of speed. It thundered down the path with an intense fury, crashing into the truck ahead of it and causing it to rollover and crash. The truck should have blocked the way and kept the vehicle behind it from passing because of the way it lay across the path, but the tank ran right over the broken truck, crushing the wood and the metal beneath it. Soldiers dashed out of the way to avoid getting crushed under the treads.

The path swerved ahead, and Daring threw the switch to turn the tank. It responded, and it continued to follow the remaining truck.

"Don't want to hit that one- Trenchoof's in there," mumbled Daring, biting her lower lip. Likely the leader of the group, Gwindor, and the traitor were as well. The path ahead was widening, and Daring could see the truck making a sharp right turn. The path was quickly coming to an end, and ahead was the river- and a submarine waiting for her.

Daring realized with a start that she was headed straight for the river. There was little space to turn, and the tank was already travelling at an intense speed. She threw the lever as much as she could, praying that it would be enough to get the machine to remain on land. The vehicle swerved, and with a sinking feeling Daring felt it pitch to one side, careening off the dock and right into the muddy waters of the river. Through the hatches and the sights water began pouring in. Daring's entire world flipped on her as the tank rolled underwater, and the hatch to get out was now submerged inside the vehicle, with the floor above her head.

The tank was rapidly filling with water. The amount of space that was breathable air was rapidly disappearing, and Daring knew that she needed to get out of there. Now.

Taking a deep gasp of breath, Daring dove down, grasping the handles on the hatch and pulling. It required a lot of pressure, but it did pop open, exposing the murky bottom to Daring. The pony quickly forced herself through the hole, and out into the river's water.

****

"Well, so much for the heroic Daring Do," said Gwindor, shaking his head. Soldiers from the remaining truck had grabbed Trenchoof, and were dragging him towards the dock, while Elise got out of the other side.

"You're not going to get away with this!" barked Trenchoof, "Just wait until word gets back home about this!"

"Oh, but I will!" replied Gwindor, removing his cap and stroking the white feathers atop his head.

"You see, the arrangements have been made already. The report on the accident will reach Equestria this evening. With any luck, your obituaries will be in tomorrow's papers."

"You son of a -"

"That will be all, thank you. Lock him up below decks!" Gwindor commanded. His soldiers saluted with a quick raise of their arms, while firmly grasping Trenchoof with their free claws. The stallion was dragged along the planks of the dock, towards the waiting submarine. Gwindor followed, standing on the deck of the ship and looking down into the murky waters. He couldn't see any more bubbles rising from the tank. Daring must have drowned.

Elise smirked, and passed by the others, heading down below the deck of the sub.

"One moment, please," Gwindor said to his soldiers. He looked at Trenchoof, smiling.

"It looks as if Daring has drowned," he gloated, motioning to where the tank was still submerged, "What do you think about that? Was it so long ago that you were fully convinced that she would get help, hm? And now where is she- ah yes, she is sitting inside a tank at the bottom of a river, dead. Soon to become food for the piranhas."

Trenchoof glanced at the water, and noticed a small trail of bubbles moving towards the side of the sub. He kept his mouth shut and simply looked back to Gwindor, snarling.

"That's what I thought. Now, as I was saying-"

SMACK!

A hoof struck Gwindor in the side of the head, and he wheeled around, intending to rake the aggressor with his claws. He struck thin air, and missed. Meanwhile, Daring had landed in front of him, a short distance away.

"Let him go, Gwindor!" Daring shouted, blocking a swipe from the head gryphon. He was obviously infuriated.

"Never!" he shouted back, rearing up and lashing out with raised Talons. Daring yelped as she was struck, blood running down her leg. Some of it was dripping into the water.

"Hurt?" sneered Gwindor, before attempting another swipe with his other clawed arm. Daring was ready for this, however, and came up with a block and a counter strike that hit the gryphon's chest. Gwindor was sent backwards, his hat falling off his head and dropping down into the water, now churning with excited piranhas that had smelled the spilled blood. In seconds the hat was reduced to shreds by the churning mass.

Gwindor yelled loudly, charging Daring. Daring braced herself, but was thrown backwards by the blow, landing on her back on the edge of the sub's deck. Gwindor rushed, and pinned her down with his front talons.

"I... have had... enough of you...." he gasped, his breaths coming in short wheezes. Daring gritted her teeth, even as she felt the strong gryphon trying to press down and crush her windpipe. She struggled and squirmed, trying to break free of the choke hold.

She struck upwards with her back hooves, kicking Gwindor's leg and sending the gryphon toppling over. Daring gasped for a fresh lungful of air, and then spun back up onto all fours. Gwindor attempted to stand, but Daring struck again, and again, and again. Each time the gryphon collapsed, until he could stand up again no longer. He stretched his wings and tried to fly up, but his energy had left him. Gwindor fell, defeated, into the churning mass of carnivorous fish. Daring averted her eyes as she heard the horrendous screams, and the gargling struggles.

She turned to see Trenchoof in a fight of his own, battling off two different gryphons that had been holding him captive. Daring galloped over, slamming into a gryphon that was attempting to get himself behind Trenchoof and grab him. Daring and this gryphon fell down on the deck, with Daring on top. The pony raised her front hooves, punching repeatedly until the aggressor was subdued. She left him there on the deck.

Trenchoof stood up, recovering from his own fight, and wiped his face off. He glanced to Daring, making a nodding gesture. Daring returned it.

"Good work. I've got to say, none of this has gone well at ALL," Trenchoof said, "I was hoping that the dig could have proceeded on schedule. It's too bad about Elise... a terrible shame. I guess she's among the gryphon ranks now. What happened to you? You alright?"

"I'm fine," Daring replied, "for me it's just the same as it always is: another day, another dungeon."

The two ponies together got off from the gryphon sub, and proceeded to flee into the forests. It was several hours until a passing ship went by that was willing to pick them up, and even though they were leaving like this, only two out of the entire expedition, Daring knew that this was not the end. They'd get reinforcements to free anypony else still held captive, and she knew where Zenith was now. As the boat the two shared with a fishing crew chugged down the river, Daring felt the exhaustion hit her. She stretched out in the warmness of the setting sun, moved her pith helmet's brim down over her eyes, and began to sleep.