Twists, Turns, Scars, and Steel

Daring looked at the Praetor, eyes still wide from the realization. "What do you mean it's him?"

"Exactly that. The ashes of Commander Hurricane are in that chest", she said. "Now, kindly lay down any weapons you have. I don't want to hurt you, but I have my orders."

Caballeron asked, "But how? How'd an Equestrian founder end up here?"

The Praetor sighed, but said, "He came here during the first Pryhan-Equestrian war. Part of a move to either make Pryha pull out or at the very least divert potential reinforcements from sailing to the mainland. Landed to the north, where Troton is now. Hell, Troton's made out of those ships. Anyway, after several battles, he was finally defeated near here, at the Battle of Cecidit Bridge. Pryhans respected him enough, that he was given the full Pryhan tomb. This is an honor normally reserved for Triumphators; he's the only one to receive the honor that wasn't one."

Daring once again stared in stunned silence. What had happened to Commander Hurricane was one of the biggest mysteries of the pegasi. Most of the others had verifiable locations of their remains, but not him. "Y-you're sure this is him?"

"Well, unless every record since 969 QFE is wrong, then yeah, that's him", the Praetor said. "Now, my other point still stands. Lay down any weapons you have, and come over here. Slowly."

Daring noted her last word: slowly. She knew something they didn't, and it concerned her. Daring took another look back up at the ceiling, namely at the weird chandelier things. She said, "We don't have any weapons."

The Praetor nodded. "Ok then", she said. "Then come over here. Again, slowly."

Daring looked at Caballeron, flicking her ear behind her. He lightly tilted his head, and Daring said, "Ok." They took a few steps forward, before turning on their hooves and running full speed behind the sarcophagus.

Above them, a series of red lights appeared, before several loud slams resounded throughout the room. Daring looked around to see about a dozen strange creatures. They resembled Demigryphs, only made from what appeared to be whirring gears and pullies. They were covered by thick bronze armor and helmet, with a clawed gauntlet on their forelegs. The red lights were coming from a large stone covered in runes in the center of their heads, which reflected through a broken lens.

The Praetor yelled, "You idiots! You may have just killed yourselves and my troops!"

"What do you mean!?", Caballeron called back.

"These are Clockwork Pedes. Runic and machinery powered suits of armor used for bodyguard purposes", she said, sheathing one of her swords and pulling out a crossbow pistol. "They were discontinued because, when those lenses are broken, they can't distinguish friend from foe!"

Daring's eyes went wide in realization, as well as one of them attacking her and Caballeron. She just narrowly managed to dodge to the side, taking flight to avoid a flurry of slashes. Caballeron bolted away from it, shouting, "Daring! This is your fault!"

"Hey, better this than being crucified!", she yelled back.

Off towards the entrance, the Pryhans were fighting the bulk of the Clockwork Pedes. The lighter armored soldiers fired off a salvo of crossbow bolts, only managing to bring down one of them. The Praetor yelled, "Fall back! I'll handle this. Wait outside!"

Her soldiers did as the Praetor said, running outside and disappearing from view. The Praetor, meanwhile, re-drew her second sword, taking off at full speed.

Daring stopped in stunned silence. The Praetor moved at a ridiculous speed, swinging her swords and delivering enough momentum to sever limbs. She swung around in a big circle, crippling the warrior before whipping back to finish them off.

Caballeron, meanwhile, was still avoiding his assailant's attacks and trying to get away from it. Daring came down, slamming her rear hooves into its face, sending the runic rock flying out of it and sending the machine sprawling to the ground.

"Thanks", Caballeron said, panting.

"No problem, partner", Daring said.

The two's attention was turned back to the Praetor as a gust of wind sent the last two sprawling. Now, it was just them and her. The Praetor said, panting and bleeding from a small cut on her upper foreleg, "N-now. Surrender."

Daring stared down the Praetor, weighing her options. The Praetor was no doubt a skilled fighter, able to put down easily a dozen machines that could warrant her sending her soldiers out of the Tomb. She also had weapons, making that advantage all the bigger.

"Wait", Caballeron said. "We technically didn't do anything wrong."

"What are you talking about?", the Praetor asked.

Daring caught on, adding, "Yeah. We entered into this place, but we didn't take anything yet. So, is just entering this place a criminal offense?"

The Praetor shifted on her hooves, squinting beneath her goggles. After a second, she slid the swords back into their scabbards, saying, "I suppose that may be the case. However, given some context from your books, the prosecutors may be able to press conspiracy to commit charges. Not as big as the straight charge, but could still be serious."

"You said you've read up to Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny, right?", Caballeron asked.

"Yeah", the Praetor said.

Caballeron chuckled and said, "Well, in one of the later books, Daring Do and Dr. Caballeron: Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh, we both realized that one another were wrong about one another. I thought she was just stealing artifacts, and she thought I was stealing them to make a profit."

"Yeah", Daring said, rubbing the back of her head. "Not some of my proudest moments."

"Ok, nice story. But, what does that have to do with this?", the Praetor asked.

Caballeron said, "We've been talking, just before we got here. And, well... Normally, we've been retrieving artifacts from long-dead civilizations, or FOR living cultures. And, well... The latter is kind of what we did here. We thought we were trying to get it from a dead civilization, not a living one."

"Didn't Daring say that you wanted it because it was Equestrian in origin?", The Praetor asked.

"Another thing I learned; context matters", Daring said. "We've met a few others here. You know, besides you and your troops. And, well... yeah, you guys like your history and your honor."

"The point?"

"Keep it", Daring said. "All of it. Hay, the story might be just enough to get ponies back home interested and come to visit. At the very least, we could bring some information back and allow it to be printed as well. Caballerons whole shtick before I kinda made him go desperate and made the museum he worked for close down-"

"Wait, you did what!?", the Praetor said.

"Again, not my proudest moments", Daring replied. "Anyway, his shtick was preserving history. We'll let you do it."

The Praetor seemed to consider it, before pulling down her neck gaiter and pulling her goggles onto her helmet. She said, "Alright then. This is gonna be a really interesting report. Before we walk out of her and I explain this to my troops, can I ask one thing first?"

"Sure, what?", Daring asked.

The Praetor reached under her shoulder cape, pulling something out. At first, Daring thought it was a box. However, as she lifted it up, she realized it was a book. One of her books.

"Can I get an autograph?"

++++~++++

Twilight closed the transcript, thoughts swirling around in her head. Shadowlock asked, "So, you think it could be her?"

"I don't know", Twilight said. "I mean, I don't know. On one hoof, she was really fast, and had a somewhat similar description to Rainbow Dash. But on the other, she didn't say anything that could fully confirm it was her. But maybe-"

"Twilight. Twilight. Just calm down", Shadowlock said.

"Right", she said. "Ok. It could be worth looking into. There is a lot that's similar to Rainbow Dash."

"In that case, let's go talk to Cadence and Shining", Shadowlock said.

"Right", Twilight agreed, turning to Quibble Pants. "Can we borrow this for another couple of hours?"

"Sure", Quibble said. "Just bring it back here after you're done."

"Thank you. Come on, let's go", Twilight said, leading Shadowlock out of the Crystal Archive.