Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone
Daring Do took a deep breath as she entered the saloon. Her contact had said to meet her there, and she didn't intend to get another false trail. She shuddered. That griffon had been a nasty fellow. She entered the room to a loud chatter, and the smell of sweat and adventure lingered everywhere. She went and sat at a table. Then she gave the sign. She hadn't met this pony before, so she didn't know what he looked like. Daring remembered his words on the letter he'd sent her.
I'll be the one with a orange coat and brown mane. I'll also have a brown hat. You'll see me.
His words had been strange, and she still wasn't sure about this lead. Then a unicorn matching his description clopped over to her table.
"Hello, Miss Do. My name i-"
"I know what your name is, Trailing. And I also know that you won't be giving me a false trail, because you don't want to see what happens when you do. Know, where's the map you promised?"
Trailing Lead narrowed his eyes. "Fine. Here's the map. Now fork over the bits." He said as he pulled a crinkled scroll out of his saddlebags. "But before you have it, I need the bits."
Daring scowled. She had been planning to ditch this colt before he could ask for the bits. But he picked up on her unspoken plan.
"Hehe, outsmarted ya, didn't I, Miss Do? Now give 'em."
Daring do cautiously pulled two hundred bits out of her saddlebag.
"Now, let's do an even swap in three...two...one..."
Swish! Daring grabbed the map and bolted out of an open window with a hundred bits in her hoof, leaving an underpaid and very confused Trailing Lead behind. She chuckled as she opened the scroll and redirected her flight path 47% to the north.
* * *
As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky. But her crash-landing in the jungle had injured her wing, and she was grounded for a few days. A few days... It might as well be a few months--or a few years!
The mosquitos buzzed loudly, and the macaws crying loudly from the high trees, yet, all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step.
ROAR! The tiger she turned face-to-face with roared in her face, and she just barely managed to escape over a log. She turned, and a panther stood waiting for her. She gasped and turned to run, when a bobcat leaped out of a bush and growled. She grimaced, and turned again. These animals don't even LIVE together! What the buck!? she thought as a cheetah crawled out from under a bush. She stood on the log as the four large cats surrounded her, and she saw no way out until a small white cat jumped out from behind some vines. There! An escape! She darted towards the cat as it hissed at her. The panther, tiger, bobcat, and cheetah sprang after her.
She bolted towards her safe haven as she dodged the trees. Suddenly she heard and echo. An echo? Here? Her question was answered as as she skidded to a stop at the edge of a gorge. She spared a moment to glance back and see the cats running after her. Then she had an idea.
She smiled triumphantly as the cats slammed into each other on the other side of the gorge. She had grabbed a vine and swung on it, escaping the predators.
Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around, to find herself face-to-face with the long-lost temple she had sought tirelessly for, for over sixty days and nights!
The smell of decay and danger hit Daring Do as she peered into the dimly lit entrance of the ancient temple. She walked slowly through the corridor, observing the bugs and bones of previous adventurer/paleontologists.
Suddenly, Daring's left front hoof fell into a pressure pad, and she ducked as three axes flew over her head. Then she was forced to spread over the ground, as a trap door opened and started spewing flames. Then a few alligators started snapping at her from above, and she flattened herself to the ground to avoid them. Several dart-dodges, swinging-axe avoids, and pointy-spike leaps later, she saw the door to the end of this madhouse start to close. She sped up and leaped through the door, just having enough time to grab her hat from under the door.
When she was safely on the other side, she took a minute to catch her breath. Then the roof started to collapse.
"Aarghh.." she grunted as some arrow dispensers fired. She scrambled through the next door, and sat to dislodge the arrows that still clung to her hat.
Daring Do stood at the entrance to the central chamber. At last, she stood face-to-face with the legendary Sapphire Stone!
She raised her hoof to walk, then noticed the pattern on the floor. She looked up, and saw a cluster of small holes in the wall at about head-hight. Arrow holes. She saw a rock on the ground and knocked it on the patterned floor. It landed on one of the squares and triggered some arrowed to come flying out of the holes. She looked at where they hit, and saw the perfect outline of a pony on the wall made out of arrows.
She squatted and looked at the floor. Every square had a different animal than its neighbor.
"Hmmm... There must be a pattern here... What do all these animals have in common?" she wondered. Suddenly, it was obvious. "Aha!" she shouted triumphantly. "These animals are all predators! Except.... rats!"
She grinned, then apprehensively placed a single hoof on the nearest rat-square. Nothing happened. She smiled huge, then started hopping between rat-squares. Finally, she landed within a few inches of the Stone. She took off her hat in amazement, then studied it, knowing it wouldn't be as simple as just grabbing it. She rubbed her hooves, sticking her tongue out in concentration. Then she put on a blank expression and reached out and grabbed the Stone with her mouth.
As she contentedly put the priceless artifact in her hat, she noticed a sound coming from behind her. She spun around and saw a small cylinder coming out from the pedestal. Oh brother, she thought as the room began to collapse. She turned again and saw the floor collapse into lava. The entire room was breaking, and most of the floor was lava.
As the lava rose, Daring jumped to the top of the pedestal. Then, when she was about to die an uncomfortably warm death, she spotted a way out. Jumping from toppled column to toppled column, she managed to climb out the hole in the roof. VICTORY! was her only thought as she surfaced to the top of the temple. Then a large gust of air blew her up and over the temple edge.
When she landed, the Sapphire Stone fell out from underneath her hat, only to be grasped by the hand-tail of the one and only Ahuizotl.
"You thought you could evade me and take the Stone for yourself, but you were sadly mistaken Miss Do. And now, you shall meet your DOOM!"
Ahuizotl brought a small porcelain cat up to his mouth and blew through it. Instantly, the four cats from earlier jumped up and growled at her. The small white cat crawled out from under the tiger's paw and purred contentedly as Ahuizotl laughed manically. The four cats pounced, and everything went black...
* * *
When Daring Do came to, she was being carried by the tiger and she was in a virtual straightjacket made of rope. They were walking toward the temple, around the back, and a door slid open.
"You won't get away with this, Ahuizotl!" she snapped as she was tied to a stone table in the center of the room.
"But I already have," Ahuizotl chortled as he lowered a lever. Instantly, the roof started crumbling.
"Not again," Daring grumbled. Ahuizotl put on a manically cruel smile as he and his feline cronies leapt out of the room.
Suddenly, several spikes poked out of the slowly contracting walls, and large amount of quicksand, snakes, and spiders crawled into the room.
"Quicksand?" she muttered to herself. She struggled fruitlessly. "It looks like the harder I struggle, the tighter the ropes get!" she said to herself. The sand rose higher to her head. Her pith hat fell on her belly, and she glanced at the lever. Then she used her hat as a sort of slingshot, and it flew around the room till it hit the lever, raising her table and retracting the spikes just in time. She broke the surface of the sand, and knocked some out of her ear. Then she smiled. The door raised and she donned her hat.
"Another day, another dungeon."
* * *
"Hehehe..." Ahuizotl chortled as he stroked his small white cat. "With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer eternally at my hands. I! AM! VICTORIOUS!! HAHAHAHHAHA!!"
Suddenly, a gray-brown blur flashed by and swiped the Sapphire Stone.
"I'll take that," Daring Do said triumphantly.
"Huh? What? NOOOOO!!!" Ahuizotl cried as Daring dismounted her vine on the rocky overhang nearby.
"Better luck next time, Ahuizotl.
"CURSE YOU, DARING DOOOOOO!!!"
And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the Sapphire Stone secured, the world was safe and sound again, thanks to Daring Do!
