Daring took a deep breath and stepped forward, looking at the pedestal. A golden spear lay on it, emitting a faint light. Abstract carvings of simple shapes, some soft and swirling, some rigid and geometric, were etched into its surface. It was beautiful. She leaned in, looking closer at the-
"Get on with it!"
She sighed, not even looking at the source of the voice behind her. "I'm narrating, Quibble. It's important to get the scene well fixed in my mind so I can write it later."
"You and I both know that's not the real reason."
There was a pause. "Okay, fine, I'm a little nervous. You saw what the book said!"
"Yeah, the impure cannot bear touching it, whatever. You'll be fine."
"I beat ponies up all the time!"
"That's your job!"
"I enjoy it!"
She heard the sound of face meeting hoof, but didn't turn around. Her gaze was caught by the Spear of Light. She was petrified.
"Maybe we should've brought Somnambula-"
"Just do it, Daring."
She took a deep breath, reached out a hoof, and grabbed the Spear. "It's glowing brighter. Is that a good thing?"
"Are you a pile of ash yet?"
"...no..."
"Then it's a good thing."
As she turned, Quibble pants was glancing around the temple. "Isn't this usually the part where it starts to crumble and fall apart around us? I mean, this whole thing has been pretty boring, and there's been an astonishing lack of booby traps, but a temple that doesn't even crumble? That's where I draw the line."
Daring rolled her eyes. "The Spear doesn't need any more protection than it already has. Ponies who want to use it for evil literally crumble when they touch it."
"Still. Not even a lava pit?"
She sighed. "And you complain that my adventures are all the same."
"Eh, I spent at least fifty percent of my time on the internet. That makes it okay to be a filthy hypocrite."
Daring couldn't help but laugh as they trotted out of the ancient ruin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A knock sounded at Somnambula's door. Her cat, Ink, meowed.
"I will never understand how you can tell what pony it is just from the knock!" she smiled, getting up to open the door. "Hello, Daring! Hello, Quibble! Ink told me it was you."
"He could tell?" Daring asked with interest.
Somnambula beamed. "It seems like every day he reveals a new ability I didn't know he had."
Daring grinned. "I did a little research on familiars in my free time. It turns out ponies actually leak small amounts of magic constantly, did you know that? Familiars absorb some of the magic of their pony, so they're able to use minor magical abilities--more than just what the magical bond between you will allow, the one that lets you understand him."
Somnambula looked over at him. "And you did not see fit to inform me of this?" she accused.
"Meow," said Ink concisely.
She sighed and turned back to the others. "I take it your arrival means you have found the Spear of Light?"
Daring nodded and gestured to a long object, wrapped in black fabric, leaning by the side of Somnambula's door. "I wrapped it up so that it wouldn't draw attention, and so that we wouldn't kill anypony by mistake."
"A good thought." Somnambula gestured the pair inside. When Quibble thought nopony was looking, he reached over and gave Ink a few pats, then pretended he hadn't. Somnambula saw it, but decided not to bring it up. "I know we ought to leave quickly, but we may as well take a moment to rest and catch up with each other first. Tea?"
Daring shook her head. "Too hot for tea."
"Not this tea."
Quibble rolled his eyes. From what he'd heard, they'd been having this exact argument every time they met. "Just drink it, Daring."
"The day I drink tea is the day I die," Daring insisted.
Somnambula stuck a pot of tea on anyway.
"Before we begin this adventure," she began, sitting down at a round table with six chairs, "I must speak with you about something."
Daring shrugged and sat down next to her. "Shoot."
"I bought a full set of your books, to see what adventures you had come across before this, and I discovered something. You have a refusal to kill anypony, ever."
"Of course."
Somnambula sighed. "You are not the only one who did extra research. I got other books besides your own, and I learned all I could about this Ahuizotl."
"And?"
"He is a monster, Daring. A creature of pure darkness. He takes pleasure in destruction, for no other reason than because he can. If he has to be killed in order to stop him from getting the Necklace of Nightmares, you must do it. You must be willing to do it."
Daring winced, but reluctantly nodded. "I know, I guess. It's just... It feels like a big step, you know? Like once I start killing I might never stop, I might kill everypony who stands in my way."
"He destroys for the sheer pleasure of it, no other reason. He is a monster, Daring, no less than any of the manticores and chimeras you have faced, and the fact that he has the power of speech does not negate that."
Behind her, the teakettle whistled. Somnambula got up and poured three cups of tea. "Think about it, Daring," she said from the fireside. Placing the teacups on a tray, she carried them to the table and handed them to her guests.
Daring arched an eyebrow. "Just try it," Somnambula said. "If you do not like it, I will not insist again. Try it once."
Quibble shrugged. "Look, I'm not a tea person either, Daring. But I'm willing to give it one sip. And you know how picky I am."
Daring groaned. "Fiiiiine." Slowly, reluctantly, she raised the cup to her lips and took a sip.
Her eyes widened. The room seemed to brighten around her. A choir of angels sang in the background.
"That's pretty good tea," she admitted, taking another sip.
Quibble was staring at the cup with his mouth wide open. "What's in that tea?" he whispered.
Somnambula shrugged. "Just tea."
"I think I had an out-of-body experience."
"It is very good tea."
He shrugged and took another sip.
"The Necklace of Nightmares isn't far from here," Daring commented. "We can be there tonight, if we start soon."
"And then you'd want to start right away instead of getting any sleep," Quibble retorted. "You're used to adventuring on little sleep, but we're not. Nightfall is about three hours away. We should sleep here, then get started in the morning when we're well-rested."
"No!" Daring smacked her hoof on the table. "We need to get moving! We can't let Ahuizotl find the Necklace before we do!"
Both of them, in perfect sync, turned to look at Somnambula, as if asking her to resolve the discussion. She tapped a hoof against her muzzle. "Both of you make good points," she conceded. "Rest is important, but speed equally so. The choice is a riddle harder than the sphinx's. At least it would be," she added, smiling, "were it not for something my friend Meadowbrook did for me."
She stood up and trotted over to a cabinet, pulling out a bottle of potion. "In our early days as a team," she explained, "we often had to work for long periods, or attack somepony at night. Meadowbrook created a potion to help us stay alert, postponing all effects of tiredness for twelve hours. The only downside was that, when it wore off, we would feel just as tired as if we had pushed through our exhaustion and done the exact same things without the potion. When we returned to the present day, Meadowbrook gave each of us one bottle for emergencies. If we split it between the three of us when we arrive, we will each get four hours of alertness." She tucked the bottle into her saddlebags, nestling it carefully in cloth to be sure it wouldn't break.
"The three of us?" Daring queried. "What about Ink?"
Somnambula smiled. "Ink, my dear, is a cat. He takes short naps throughout the day, and I've never seen him require sleep longer than fifteen minutes. Add to that the fact that he can sleep on my back as I move, and it should be simple for him to keep alert and awake."
Daring grinned. "Great! Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Quibble gazed up at the structure. "Another pyramid?"
Daring shrugged. "They're common in this region. Ponies were into mountains at the time--they considered them the most beautiful things in nature and tried to imitate them to create beautiful and imposing buildings. This was especially found in religious places, as they thought something tall like a mountain would bring them closer to... well, whatever gods they worshiped." There was a pause as the other two looked at her. "What? I know a lot of history! You don't get into archaeology without liking history."
Somnambula pulled out the potion and three cups. "I will try to split it evenly, but it is likely that some of us will end up with slightly more time than others." Carefully, she poured it, keeping it as even as possible. Each of them grabbed a cup and drank.
Quibble gagged. "Guh, what's in this?"
"A large amount of swamp grass, among other things," Somnambula said, drinking hers calmly.
Daring shrugged. "Not the worst potion I've ever had."
Quibble groaned. "Blehhhh."
Daring stood and shook herself, pulling a watch out. She clicked several buttons. "Right. I've set this watch to count down four hours and tell us when we're running out of time. Quibble, can you hold onto it? I'll probably be busy."
He nodded and put it in his pocket. "Sure. Let's get inside."
As they approached the doors, however, something sprang out of the bushes, blocking their path. Several somethings. A bobcat, a panther, a cheetah, and a huge tiger growled at them, hackles raised. A few seconds later, a snowball-white house cat joined them.
"You know, I assumed the white cat was something you added in later as a joke," Quibble remarked offhandedly.
"Nope. She's part of the team, and almost as deadly as the others. Stand back, everypony. I'll take care of-"
Ink leapt forward, hissing and spitting. Daring bit her hoof. He looked so small in front of the others (except the white one, he was bigger than her). What could he possibly do against them?
There was a pause of only a split second before Ink leapt again, landing on the bobcat's side. The tiger lunged for him and he jumped again, straight up into the air. The tiger, unable to change course, barreled into the bobcat with the force of a freight train. Ink landed on his head and bounced off as the bobcat, infuriated, lashed out at the tiger. The two of them rolled on the ground, clawing and biting each other. Ink stopped and stood for a moment between the cheetah and panther, and then, as they both lunged, he darted out of the way. They collided with each other. The cheetah stood up, ready to head for Ink again, but the panther, angered into a frenzy, swiped at his hindquarters, dragging him into a fight. Only the white cat stood before Ink now, and he didn't hesitate. Grabbing her tail, he flung her like a kung fu master right into the fray, which by this point had become an utter free-for-all as the cats collided, only making them angrier.
The three ponies crept past the big cats, careful not to draw their attention. Once safely inside the pyramid, Daring turned to Ink, who was casually licking himself. "That was amazing! Under thirty seconds!"
"You counted?" Quibble asked.
She shrugged. "Writers often describe how quickly things happen, so I notice it a lot."
"There is no time to discuss this," Somnambula countered. "We must continue quickly. This pyramid is sure to be long and full of traps and puzzles, and we have no time!"
Daring nodded. "She's right. Let's get moving."
Soon, however, they were faced with a choice. The hallway split off into two distinct paths. Daring peered down them, tapped the first few tiles of each with a hoof, and sniffed. "Well, they look the same, feel the same, and smell the same," she announced finally. "They also sound the same--silent--and I'm willing to bet they even taste the same, but I'm not going to try it. I think we should split up."
"Absolutely not," Quibble Pants protested. "We already know Ahuizotl's somewhere about. We're going to need all of us if we want to face him. If one group lags behind, the other will face him alone."
Daring scoffed. "Please. I've handled him on my own before."
"And what if it's not you? What if, say, you and I take longer through the pyramid than Somnambula and Ink? Ink might've been able to take the cats once, but you established in the second book they're more coordinated and deadly when they're closer to Ahuizotl and his control. Even if Ink can handle the cats again, Somnambula is used to standing with a team. She probably can't take Ahuizotl by herself. And even you have struggled repeatedly when facing both Ahuizotl and his cats at once, and Celestia knows I'm no good in a fight."
"I wouldn't say that. Who was it who bucked Caballeron through a door last time, again?" Daring asked, grinning.
"That's not the point!" Quibble stomped a hoof on the floor for emphasis. "If we split up, each pair of us might be reasonably equipped to handle the challenges that we run into through the pyramid. We almost certainly won't be able to handle Ahuizotl himself, and there's a fairly high chance of encountering him before this is all over."
Daring sighed. "Fiiiiine. We'll stick together. Which way, do you think?"
The four looked down one way, then the other. "Ink?" Somnambula asked. "Your sixth sense is uncanny. Have you any ideas?"
Ink trotted towards the right-hoof corridor, then paused, turned towards the left-hoof corridor, paused again, and finally looked back at Somnambula. "Meow."
She sighed. "It is all right. You did your best."
"He didn't do anything," Quibble retorted.
Daring whacked him with her tail. "Hush. You know you like him."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Somnambula laughed. Daring brought them back on track. "So... random chance?"
Quibble shrugged. "As good a way as any, I guess."
"Great. Let's go this way." She pointed to the left.
Quibble shrugged again. "Sure. Any reason?"
"Eh. Like I said, random chance."
"No no no. It's statistically more probable for someone to choose the right-hoof side, all other things being equal," Quibble insisted, as they began to trot. "It's because most ponies--90%, specifically--are right-hooved, so their brain unconsciously associates the right side with easier things."
Daring sighed deeply. "This is what I get for bringing the walking encyclopedia."
"So I like reading. Now I'm really curious, though."
She sighed again. "Fine. I'm left-hooved. Happy?"
He could've sworn he heard a record scratch. "What? That can't be right!"
"Why not?"
"In your books, you always talk about punching with your right hoof!"
She rolled her eyes. "No, most of the time I don't specify. If specifically say my right hoof sometimes, that implies it's an exception. I'm left-hooved, and that's all there is to it."
"But... but..."
Daring kept trotting, ignoring him.
"I can't believe it! All this time, I was wrong about something so crucial to the story!"
"Obviously it wasn't crucial," Daring called back, "since you it didn't make any difference to your understanding of the story whether I was right- or left-hooved. I bet almost all fans think I'm right-hooved, and I don't care."
"B-b-but-"
"No time for complaining. I think we've hit our first obstacle." Daring gestured to a wide crack in the floor of the pyramid--at least three pony lengths across, probably more like four or five.
"A crack? Hardly a difficulty for us." Somnambula spread her wings.
"Not so fast," Daring replied, pointing at Quibble. "We could probably lift him together, but the aerodynamics of flight get thrown completely off by things like that."
Quibble's eyes scanned the room. "Can we do what Dash and I tried in Daring Do and the Seven-Sided Chest?"
"Not likely. It's designed to work on water. We might be able to pull it off with wheels, but even so it'd need a platform. I don't see anything usable."
"How good is your swinging?" Somnambula asked. "Daring uses that often in her books."
"We've got the materials," Daring added. "The day I'm without rope is the day I turn in my adventurer's license."
"You have a-"
"It's a metaphor! Can you swing or not?"
Quibble eyed the gap. "I think so. I've done it before--they love having activities like that at cons--but I've never done that distance."
"We'll be underneath you to catch you if you fall," Daring reassured.
"But I thought you couldn't carry ponies while flying..."
Daring waved a hoof. "The mechanics are completely different."
"But how-"
"We can get into the technical discussion later, while we're trotting between one problem and the next." Daring spread her wings and flapped up to the ceiling, pulling a length of rope out of her saddlebags. Thankfully, the ceiling had support beams just about everywhere, and it wasn't hard to find a place to tie it.
She landed again next to Quibble. "Okay. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Running start. The goal is to leap across half the gap, grab the rope in the middle, and let your momentum carry you over the other half. A swing that starts at the beginning of the gap is a swing that doesn't reach the other side. Ready? Set? GO!"
It was Daring's favorite method of coaching. Load them up with all the information they need, then shout "GO!" before they feel ready, forcing them to act without thinking--or, more accurately, forcing their unconscious brain to do the work. Conscious brain meant hesitation meant failure. Unconscious brain meant smooth action meant success.
Quibble ran. He jumped. His hooves closed around the rope, his momentum easily carrying it across the rest of the gap. But Daring's eyes widened. He was hesitating, trying to calculate when to let go. He couldn't make it that way.
"NOW!" she shouted. It wasn't a voice you could argue with. Despite his name (and cutie mark) Quibble couldn't argue with it either.
He let go.
Four hooves hit the ground solidly. Quibble stumbled a bit, but stood back up, panting a little. "I did it," he gasped. "I did it!"
Daring smiled. "Yes, you did," she agreed. "Now let's get moving."
Sighing, Quibble followed her lead, continuing to trot down the hallway. They reached a corner, turned right, and continued on. After a few moments of trotting down that road, Quibble said, "So what was that about the mechanics of catching ponies working differently than those of carrying them?"
Daring tilted her head, thinking through her words. "Vertical lifts and horizontal lifts have very different aerodynamics. A catch is just a vertical lift that begins at the peak instead of going up and coming down. Most of the time, a catch requires two pegasi, but any two pegasi in Equestria can do it, it doesn't matter if they're strong flyers or whatever. One comes in from one side, the other from the other side--demonstrate with me, Somnambula."
They moved to either side of Quibble and picked him up, one hoof under his forelegs, one holding from the back. "They teach this in Flight Kindergarten, and again in every grade you reach," Daring said. "They just drill it into the kids. You'd be surprised how often ponies fall from serious heights, but when every single pegasus in Equestria is equipped to save them, fall-related injuries are surprisingly low, and fall-related fatalities almost nonexistent."
They set him down again, and he shrugged. "Maybe they wouldn't have to teach that if ponies would stop falling from heights."
"Or maybe," Daring said, "we should be grateful that they teach it to everypony because when it is needed, it's really, really needed."
Quibble shrugged, conceding the point. They picked up the pace, moving at a brisk trot, and turned a corner in the hallway. The next stretch of hall seemed completely clear, though Daring kept her eyes out for any hidden traps they might trigger, and always stayed several steps ahead, as she was the most experienced with dodging traps. The time passed in silence, as none of them could think of anything to say, and soon they turned again. The corridor began slowly rising.
Quibble grumbled something.
"What was that?" Daring asked from a few feet ahead.
"I said, it's a good thing pyramids get smaller as they rise. I don't know if I can handle many more hallways of this length. It's getting pretty old."
Somnambula paused to think. "Is it possible for us to climb the outside of the pyramid instead? It would be far more direct."
"Only if you want to break through about five feet of stone. These ancient ponies did not mess around with the size of their pyramid walls."
Somnambula shrugged and kept moving. "The potion should keep you invigorated for a long time yet, Quibble Pants."
Quibble sighed. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about how sore I'm going to be when it wears off."
"If you're planning to be a regular companion on my adventures, you might try to get into shape," Daring called back. "Oh, and avoid that blue tile there."
Quibble scoffed. "No duh. Could they have made it any more obvious?"
"They could have made it red," Somnambula offered helpfully. "Red is said to be a color that stands out the most. I have learned much since I came to the present! Although, I do not observe this effect myself."
"We're in the desert," Daring replied. "Red and orange are everywhere. Blue, or maybe green, would probably be the most distinctive colors around here."
"I mean, they even painted the arrow holes on the walls! Are they actually trying to keep ponies out at all?" Quibble complained.
"Would you rather have gotten shot with scores of arrows?" Daring asked sardonically.
"Nah, but would it be too much to ask for Ahuizotl to be?"
"Probably. He's been at this longer than even me. He's really good at navigating temples. It's infuriating. I mean, the average temple will take me three hours, with lots of sweat and risks to my life, and he'll get through it in five minutes! Even if he got to the area way later, he's always right behind me. It gets really old."
"Sounds like it would," Quibble agreed.
They turned another corner. This was the fourth corner, the last side of the square, and at its end--if you looked hard enough, you could see all the way--was something different. There was a door.
"Is that a puzzle?" Quibble asked, leaning forwards. "Please tell me that's a puzzle."
"Only one way to find out," Daring replied, trotting forward.
Quibble groaned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was, indeed, a puzzle, but it still didn't make Quibble very happy. There were dozens of holes in the door, forming a triangle with five holes on each side. A peg was in each hole, except for one.
Quibble groaned. "Really? I've seen this puzzle on the table at restaurants!"
"Then you should be great at solving it," Daring said, with a roll of her eyes.
He sighed. "Yeah, I guess. It's always kinda hard, but I think I can do this..." Reaching forward, he pulled out a peg in the door and hopped it over a different peg, landing on the other side in the single empty hole. The peg he'd jumped shot out of its hole like an arrow, and he ducked. "Yikes! A tad forceful, there, aren't we?"
Somnambula flapped her wings. "Oh! I see! It is like the game of Checkers that Pinkie Pie taught me! How wonderful! But the pieces are all the same color."
Quibble nodded. "That's right. You use one peg to jump another, like checkers-" he moved another peg, then ducked as the piece he'd jumped shot out of its hole- "but the pieces can only move by jumping, instead of going just one space, and your goal is to have only one piece left."
He paused to survey the board, then made a quick series of moves. Within about a minute, the board was empty. Or, almost empty. There were two pieces left, and they were several spaces away from each other. Quibble grumbled in annoyance, then ducked yet again as every piece he'd taken out rose up like a swarm of angry bees and flew at the door, embedding themselves back in its surface. He groaned as he stood up. "Seriously, can we maybe have a version of this game that's a little less life-threatening?"
"Just a few minutes ago, you were complaining that the temple wasn't life-threatening enough," Daring countered.
"I changed my mind. I'm perfectly fine with a nice peaceful temple, no problem."
"It's designed to protect the Necklace of Nightmares, Quibble. Don't expect a walk in the park. We don't want it to be easy, because that just means bad guys will have an easier time breaking in here to steal it."
"I do not mean to be rude," Somnambula interrupted, "but Ahuizotl is already inside the temple. We need to catch up to him. Perhaps Quibble should make a second try?"
Quibble shook himself. "Right. Here goes. Maybe if..." He trailed off, lost in thought, moving pieces around the board. He was getting better at avoiding the pegs without the need for panicked dodges. Finally, the board was near empty again. No more moves could be made. And standing triumphantly, right in the center, was a single, solitary peg.
"Yes!" Quibble cried, lifting his hooves in a 'touchdown' pose as the door swung open.
"Well done," Somnambula said, trotting through. "I tried to follow what you were doing, but I was unable to keep up with your strategy. We did wisely to bring you with us."
Quibble beamed.
The three headed through the door, and it slammed shut behind them. They heard the sound of the pegs slamming back into the wood behind them, and Quibble flinched. "Yeesh. I've never played a peg game that hardcore."
To absolutely nopony's surprise, what lay behind the door was yet another corner and another long hallway. Quibble estimated that they should be on the second floor now, thanks to the gradual incline of the halls. "Well, further up and further in, I guess," Daring said. "We should pick up the pace. We were lucky, if we're going to be racing Ahuizotl. Most of the reason this pyramid will take so long to get through is because of the hallways, not the traps or puzzles. That means we might be able to be as fast as, or faster than, him. But only if we move more quickly than we have been."
Somnambula and Quibble nodded and broke from a walk into a brisk trot. Ink, who had been napping on Somnambula's back, woke up, yawned, and jumped down to follow with them on foot for a while. He didn't seem to be walking very fast, but he kept up easily. In fact, he often roamed ahead, sniffing around before returning to the group.
"He's stealing my job," Daring joked one of these times. It really did look like he was checking for traps.
He trotted up to Somnambula. "Meow."
"Really? How odd..."
"What did he say?" Quibble asked.
"He cannot detect even the faintest whiff of Ahuizotl's scent. Since the cats were there before us, Ahuizotl must have been as well, yet he is not ahead of us. Is he behind?"
"More likely he just took the other way," Daring said.
"Oh! Yes, I had forgotten there were two paths. He must have taken the one on the right--no, but Ink could not detect any difference between the two paths, and to his nose Ahuizotl has a very strong scent. He must be behind. But why would he wait?"
Daring thought. "Maybe he didn't want us to come across any puzzles he'd already solved--can't make it too easy on us--and he was confident he could be faster than us if he took the other path."
"That seems most likely. At least, it is the only likely option that occurs to me."
Daring nodded.
They turned a corner.
Halfway down this new hallway, they encountered something unusual--a hole in the ground, like a swimming pool. It stretched the width of the hall, not that that was difficult, and was filled with what looked like slightly wet sand, like you'd find at the beach when the waves go out. Daring poked it tentatively; it dipped around her hoof, like a water balloon. She paused, then burst out laughing. Quibble and Somnambula looked at each other uncertainly. Finally, Daring said, "It's quicksand!" as if that explained everything.
"I do not understand why this amuses you," Somnambula admitted. "I have read your books, and quicksand seems to be no laughing matter."
"Quicksand!" Daring repeated, as if that clarified her point at all. "And they tried to use it as a trap! To defend an artifact!"
"Um, that might be fine for you," Quibble complained, "but what about me? Y'know, the pony without wings?"
Daring shook her head and pulled herself together. "All right, do you guys know why quicksand is such a big problem in my books?"
"Um, because it's terrifying?" Quibble suggested.
"Because ponies expect it to be. Let me clarify a few very important points for you. First, it is technically possible to drown in quicksand, but it takes some serious effort."
"Huh?"
"Usually, you stop sinking when it gets to the bottom of your cutie mark. Once it reaches your barrel, it just sort of stops. Seriously."
"Huh? But why?"
"I don't know, and I don't really care. It might be something like a ship--when there's more area touching the water, or quicksand in this case, the weight gets all spread out, and so the ship doesn't sink. When it's just your four hooves, and you're not careful, you might sink, but when your weight is spread out over your whole barrel, not so much. That's just my idea, though, I don't actually know. Look it up when we're done here."
He sighed. "Fine. So, what, you just have to swim through it? Slowly? I don't know if we have that kind of time."
"Not quite. That's only if you sink. All you actually have to do is trot briskly. If you're the shoe-wearing type, you might lose one, but that's about it." She turned and trotted across, just to demonstrate. "Don't gallop, though," she called over her shoulder. "That just puts a lot of weight on your hooves, which makes them sink in, and then you have to pull them out. Still hardly dangerous, but time-consuming and energy-wasting." Her hooves hit solid ground on the other side. "See? It's that simple."
Somnambula shrugged and followed her. Quibble was close behind--he was starting to feel like he was always the one way at the back, and he didn't want that. "Well, this is going to be a pretty boring scene."
"Nah, I'll liven it up when I write the story." Daring stepped aside to make room for them. "I kind of have to--ever since I exaggerated that one scene in my very first book, everypony expects me to treat quicksand like a huge threat."
They continued trotting down the hallway. "I do not understand," Somnambula admitted, "why this pyramid has been such a small challenge so far. It guards one of the most dangerous items in the world. Surely they would try to put more safeguards in place?"
Daring shrugged. "Think back to those two paths at the beginning. I'm thinking one of them is the right choice, and has easier challenges, and one of them is harder. We must have chosen the right one. Don't worry--by the end, there'll be some harder challenges."
Quibble rolled his eyes. "Pretty boring to write about, though."
"That's where artistic license comes in. Trust me, by the time I'm done writing, the place will have been covered in traps and crawling with monsters." She raised a hoof, narrating a scene. "'Daring Do tripped over a wire, but instead of falling to the floor, she used the momentum to push herself forward, Her wings flapped in a blur, and just in time! Darts swarmed from the walls, but she'd just barely made it out of their range, thanks to her quick instincts.'"
Quibble raised an eyebrow. "And what about us?"
"I'm getting there. 'Quibble Pants leaned forward. His keen eyes quickly found the hook attaching the tripwire to the trap's mechanism. He disconnected it easily, and he and Somnambula moved forward unimpeded.' See, it totally fits the characters--I'm the one rushing in without thinking, while you're slow and methodical. You don't have to worry about dodging the traps because you notice them and work around them."
"And Somnambula?"
Daring thought for a moment. "In between. She's the one who keeps us balanced. She can react quickly, but she's less rash about it. Between the three of us, we make a pretty good team."
Somnambula smiled. "Quite the analysis."
Daring shrugged. "Hey, I gotta write about my adventures. Figuring out the personalities of the ponies I work with makes it easier to keep them in character when I put them into a scene that didn't actually happen."
"Do you do that often?" Quibble asked.
"At least once a book. Sometimes to foreshadow a scene, sometimes to provide closure on a plot thread that never really wrapped up. And sometimes to liven up a really boring temple. But it's always with the goal of making a better story."
He arched a brow skeptically. "Never to make yourself look awesome?"
Daring winked. "That's just a bonus."
They reached another door. This one had something written over the top, but it was in a strange language.
Somnambula stepped forward. "It has been some time since I studied this language," she admitted, "but it was the tongue that was spoken here before the Unification of Hearth's Warming. All ponies in Southern Equestria learned it in school in my time." She squinted. "If I am correct, it is a riddle, which reads:
He who seeks to pass this gate, a riddle first must solve.
The answer that will seal his fate must all his wits involve.
What thing with awesome strength is blessed,
Yet quakes before the smallest pest?
Stands so high, yet sniffs the ground
Without so much as stooping down?
Has no home, or chair, or bunk
Yet holds his bath inside a trunk?
If your first guess ringeth true,
Passage we will grant to you.
But if in err you guess, my friend,
The door will bar, your journey end"
Quibble tilted his head. "It said all that?"
She shrugged. "It is a highly efficient tongue. You could fit a whole book on a napkin."
Daring scanned the words. "Tell me, how high is the probability that this riddle contains a wordplay that works in modern Ponish?"
"High. The ponies of old spoke the same language as we do, only with a different writing system." Somnambula smiled. "And they delighted in wordplay."
Daring rolled her eyes. "Then this is painfully obvious."
"Maybe not for them," Quibble defended. "There wasn't much travel in the time this pyramid was built, and they're hardly local to the region. At most, the ponies here would only have heard vague rumors of them. It wasn't a bad riddle at the time, but it hasn't aged well."
"What are you talking about?" Somnambula asked, puzzled. "What's not local to this region?"
Daring blinked several times. "You've never seen an elephant?"
The door swung open. Somnambula shrugged. "Well, whatever an elephant may be, it appears to be the solution."
"You've got to get out more," Quibble muttered as they trotted through the door.
They were getting pretty high up. Daring could tell. Somehow, she always knew her exact altitude, even deep indoors. She supposed it must be a pegasus thing. Out loud, she said, "I think this might be the last level."
Quibble turned to look at her. "Only three floors? The Palace of Riddles had five!"
"I know. If they're going to present an actual challenge, they're running out of time to do it."
"I believe Daring is right," Somnambula said. "We are nearing the altitude of the top of the pyramid."
Quibble blinked. "How did you-"
Daring shrugged. "Pegasus thing."
The hallways were even shorter this time, and soon they were turning the corner. "Based on previous experience," Daring commented, "this area of the level probably holds a trap."
What was worrying, though, was that she couldn't see one. No brightly colored, obvious floor tiles. No giant pits of quicksand. Not even any conspicuous arrow holes in the walls! It set her on edge. All the patterns said there should be a trap, but all patterns also said it should be painfully obvious. And it wasn't.
Ink, who had been napping on Somnambula's back for a while, got up and stretched. Daring paused, and he jumped off Somnambula and ambled confidently into the lead. Daring was more than content to follow him. He had a strange kind of intuition, and she was perfectly willing to trust it. Plus, he was incredibly agile, and she had little doubt that even if he did manage to trigger a trap, he could avoid it with even more ease than she herself.
Still, she followed close behind, and it was a good thing she did. There was a tiny slit in the wall, barely big enough to notice, but it went all the way up. And Ink was just about to walk in front of it. "Ink, wait!" she called, and he halted, looking back at her.
She approached the slit and waved her hoof in front of it, then hastily jerked it back. A blade, thin but sharp, swung downwards out of the wall, almost taking a chunk out of her hoof. Then it retreated back into the wall.
"They're motion sensors," Daring muttered to herself. "You'd need to move pretty fast to get past one."
She glanced down the hallway. Several more slits, only visible now that she knew what she was looking for, lined the walls, but there was plenty of distance between them. "Okay. If we go through way over on that wall, it'll buy us a little more time, since the blades are swinging from this wall. It won't be much, but it might make the difference we need."
"I've got a better idea." Quibble whisked his hoof in and out of the area as quickly as he could. The blade swung out, hitting the floor, and he quickly jumped over it. A few seconds later, it swung back up into the wall.
Daring's eyes lit up. "Oh! That's brilliant! Go ahead and keep moving. We're right behind you!"
He smirked a little. Maybe he wasn't always in the back, after all.
It was painstaking and nerve-wracking, but they made their way past the knives and continued down the hall, breathing perhaps a little heavily, but unscathed. Daring was willing to wager that, if it weren't for Quibble's clever thinking, at least one of them would probably be fairly heavily injured by now.
Not long after, they came to the final door. This one should let them into the room where the Necklace of Nightmares was held. This was the last obstacle, and Daring, for once, already knew what it was. This was the only one that had been in any of the books she'd read about this place.
"It's not a puzzle," she told them, approaching the door. "It works with a single password. If you didn't know the key, it would be impossible to find it out--though they carefully made it something that those with good intentions might still say by accident. They didn't want to shut out their allies, only their enemies. So the password is..." she leaned forward and enunciated. "Friend."
The door swung open. Quibble leaned forward, and immediately scrambled back. The pyramid had been winding around the inner chamber the whole time, from the bottom floor. The room was like a smaller pyramid in shape, and they were near the top. There was no ladder or stairs. After all, this pyramid dated to before the Unification, and it was made by pegasi. If the other tribes were in the area at all, they were probably enemies.
There was no time to devise a way of getting him down to the center, though. Ahuizotl had arrived just a few moments before they had, and he held in his hands what could only be the Necklace of Nightmares, glittering darkly on a pedestal in the middle of the room. With a cry, Daring swooped towards him, ripping of the covering of the Spear of Light, but even she wasn't fast enough. He fastened the Necklace around his neck.
A wave of purple-blue magic rushed out of him, knocking Daring Do across the room. She landed next to the cats, which sprang at her. She spread her wings and leaped into the air, staying out of their range. She had to focus on Ahuizotl.
Somnambula dove from the ledge, swooping down towards the cats. "You deal with him!" she called as she passed Daring. "I can take care of these felines."
Quibble, with no way down, resigned himself to watching. At least he had a pretty good view of the fight. Beside him, Ink meowed, and he sighed. "I guess we're stuck up here, bud." After a pause, he added, "Don't tell Somnambula I called you bud."
"Meow."
Below, Somnambula dodged around an attack from the cheetah, but the panther pounced from behind her and snatched at her wing. "Ouch!" she yelped, falling several feet out of the air. Winded, she rolled out of the way of the tiger, who tried to pounce on her. She scrambled to her hooves and dodged a swipe from the lynx, backing right into the housecat, who jumped on her back. It was clear to both Quibble and Ink that she was outmatched, especially with the cats forming such a united front. She didn't even have enough breathing space to check whether the injury to her wing was too severe to allow her to fly.
Daring was having almost as much trouble with Ahuizotl. Purple-blue mist swirled around him, and with a wave of his hand, he seemed to be able to control it, like a giant amorphous club. He swung it at her, trying to wrap it around her, but she beat it back with the Spear of Light. She, in turn, tried to get closer, so she could use the Spear to destroy the Necklace, but she couldn't penetrate the swaths of mist surrounding him. They were at a complete impasse. Neither could gain the upper hoof.
Somnambula backed up until her tail was touching a strange metal pole that Quibble hadn't even noticed before. It was about the width of a mare's hoof, and it went all the way up to the ceiling. In fact, it went up right past him, and he didn't know how he hadn't spotted it before. It reminded him of something but he couldn't figure out quite what.
The tiger wiggled its rear, then pounced at Somnambula. She smirked and ducked, and the tiger hit the pole at full force. And suddenly, though it was unrelated to what was going on, it came to Quibble. He knew where he'd seen a pole like that before. It was in a fire station.
"Ink, I have an idea. But you're not going to like it."
"Meow?"
The tiger was dazed, but that would only last for a little while, ten seconds at most, and there were four more cats for Somnambula to worry about. She swung her hind legs, bucking the lynx in the chest and knocking the wind out of it. If she could get her back against a wall, she knew the fight would go easier, but every time she tried, the cats cut her off. Right now, for instance, the panther was between her and the nearest wall, and the cheetah was charging at her at high speed. She jumped into the air, flapping her wings (and trying to ignore the pain from her scratch), and it skidded under her. Then she dropped again as the panther lunged, and it flew over her head. But now the tiger was back, and so was the lynx, and she was fast running out of energy. Do not lose hope, she scolded herself. It's not over until you're dead.
The lynx pounced at her, and she ducked and rolled to the side. The hard cobblestone floor dug into her back, but she ignored it and rose up quickly, quickly enough to lash out with her hind legs at the panther, which had come charging back. The tiger was charging towards her, and she spread her wings for takeoff-
-but she'd completely forgotten about the housecat. It leaped onto her back again and scratched near the base of her wings. She yelped, distracted, and the tiger lunged.
Quibble Pants tackled it from the side, knocking it off course. Ink, hissing and spitting, leapt at the white housecat. The two rolled around, wrestling, and fell off her back. Quibble bucked hard, sending the tiger skidded across the floor, and turned to deliver a powerful uppercut to the panther, while Ink pounced on the lynx. Somnambula smiled. The two made a good team. Between Quibble's strength and Ink's agility, she didn't even seem to be needed. So she turned to see how Daring was doing.
It wasn't good. It wasn't as bad as her own fight with the cats had been, but Daring was still at a complete impasse. She couldn't even get close to Ahuizotl. There was no chance she'd get to the Necklace. "Daring!" Somnambula called. "You have to throw the Spear!"
"I can't!" Daring retorted, her voice tinged with desperation. "What if it misses? I'll never be able to get to it again!"
"Just have hope!"
"No!"
"Have hope, Daring!"
Daring took a deep breath. She looked at the situation. There was no way she could possibly reach Ahuizotl. She'd already been trying for several minutes, and always failed. Somnambula was right--she had to throw it.
Her hoof went back. Forward. It all happened in the space of a single breath. The Spear of Light left her hoof and sailed through the air, as if in slow motion, and she saw it was just off. It was going to miss the Necklace. To add insult to injury, Ahuizotl reached up and caught it before it could reach him at all.
Daring froze. Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot- her thoughts began, but then she caught a glimpse of Somnambula's face.
She was smiling.
Daring looked back at Ahuizotl. The Spear of Light was glowing brighter and brighter, and Ahuizotl was screaming. Cracks of light appeared in his fur, spreading across his body from the hand he held the Spear with.
A resounding crack echoed across the room. The Necklace of Nightmares fell to the floor, split straight in two. The Spear of Light clattered down beside it.
They stared for several minutes at the empty space, stunned. Ahuizotl was gone. Destroyed. Daring was the first to recover. "Great!" she snapped. "I killed a character! How am I supposed to explain this to my editors?"
Somnambula shrugged. "He was evil. Entirely evil. Do not feel qualms about his demise."
Daring sighed. "Yeah, you mentioned that earlier. It's just... weird, you know? It's hard to process that I'll never run into him again. It's a good thing--I think."
Quibble nodded. "The books might be a little less interesting without their central villain, though."
"Eh, I know a whole bunch of ponies and creatures I can tick off if I need an antagonist to spice up a book." She blinked and did a double take. "Hold on, how'd you get down here?"
He pointed to the fireman's pole. "Slid down that. Had to hold Ink's tail in my teeth to make sure I didn't drop him, but we both got down in time to help out, so I call that good." He looked around. "So... um... there's a ground-level exit from this place, right?"
Author's Note
I know what you're all thinking. Shouldn't I be working on Elements of Infinity? Thing is... I'm already done. What can I say? I work fast when I'm really excited for a story and I have a first draft. But I didn't want to publish it all at once and swamp people.
Also, if you noticed the reference--it's an obscure one, but so big you absolutely can't miss it if you know what it's referencing--please PM me, as I would like to be your friend immediately. (There are less obvious references to more mainstream things as well, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)
I'm sorry this came out kind of awkward and rambling. I wrote the others in the space of an hour or two. This one took months, because I kept putting it aside for other projects. And when I finally did get around to it, I had trouble motivating myself to actually write. This story was like the thickest toothpaste you've ever squeezed out of a tube. So, if some parts seem a little detached from others, or a little flat or forced, that's why.
