Daring Do and Her First Adventure

Daring stood there, back at the gem. She wanted to scream, she wanted her heart to be racing, feeling what she was feeling a few seconds ago as that slime made her pop again. But she could barely feel her heart pumping away like normal, and she could taste peanut butter on her lips.

She huffed and headed down that hallway towards those cursed pools. At least she was right about touching the gem. All she had to do was get to the next one, touch it and then be done with this part forever!

With a firm leap she soared over the first gap, coming down with a loud smack on the stone as she pounded into it with her hooves upon landing. She was so close! Either she went too slow and got shot up, or went too fast and fell down like a dummy. Mom and Dad would have never fallen down one of those. They probably wouldn’t have even gotten smacked by those dumb slimes' balls either!

She jumped down to meet the first of the slimes, hopped over their shots and smacked each and every one of them. Now to just do that a bunch more times and she would finally get through. Her pace picked up to a steady trot, hopping up and down ledges as they came. As much as she wanted to do this safely, that would have taken forever and she was pretty sure she knew when she could speed past and where she had to be careful.

But she could still feel that pit in her stomach from earlier, from slipping up and having to reset this long path again. It almost made her swear to get better at flying when all this was done, then she’d never be set back on an adventure because of her wings! She buzzed them a little more and still felt the first flap lifting her up and then the awkward attempt at trying for another beat of her wings, but it was no use, it was like she had two left wings.

Wing problems aside, she focused on getting past the next section. She’d been through it enough that she dodged some of the easy shots without much difficulty. She was almost at the peak and then it would be downhill from here, but those two slimes – one shooting at her level and the other at the level above – were left in her way.

She had to time it just right, hopping across as the slimes rolled away. Leaving the bottom one, she jumped right over it onto the top ledge, but she could already hear those shots. One hit her right in the side as she jumped. Daring huffed as she came down on the creature, smacking it out of existence with two quick hits.

Really, she didn’t even need to hit them that hard; they were just falling apart from light touch or two. It certainly didn’t feel like it though, when she first was up against the purple slimes it felt like she was putting all her might into the first strike, and they held. It felt like they were made of solid rubber, but luckily they were a bunch of pushovers up close and practically faded away on the second hit.

Again, she could look down and spot that gem. She hopped down each ledge, jumping over with more than enough speed to make it through. This wasn’t the time to fail; the last leg of the journey, and a fairly easy section at that. She jumped, she dodged, she flew, and finally there were no gaps left, no slimes in her way.

She was here.

Quickly she trotted over to it and threw herself at that gem. Its blue glow lit up brightly and it almost brought a tearful smile to her face. Its magical aura tingled along her fur, but she could feel something else, almost like energy being pushed right into her very being. The weakness after getting hit by the slimes felt like it had suddenly vanished, like she was ready to take on whatever else this place had to offer.

Though, she could hear it before she could see it: sharp mechanical sounds coming from where she had to go. Before she could think or dwell on the way forward, her hooves were already moving, carrying her through the doorway and into the unknown ahead.

After a few hops, skips, and jumps, the sounds were getting much closer. A set of ledges had her bounding down, practically flying all the way through. But something didn’t feel right. She could feel that strange inkling of danger as she landed on the edge, momentum pushing her forward. Her hooves were already off the ground, but in a sense of panic, her wings flapped with everything they could give.

Her belly hit the very edge, hooves sticking over to the unassuming floor below as she wiggled back and pumped her wings to avoid tumbling over. A mechanical click sounded out; quiet enough that she was surprised to even hear it. A large whoosh came next as dozens of blue-tipped spears came shooting out from the ground, their hefty tips nearly grazing her face before she got a grip on the ledge and flung herself back.

She grabbed her chest and scampered away.

That was close.

Too close.

Daring took fast, shallow breaths as she calmed down and watched the spears sink into the ground with that mechanical cranking sound coming from underneath. When they were gone, it practically looked like a normal floor, well, except for the dark holes dotting along the entire way; that should have been an obvious give away, but then again, conventional traps weren’t really on her mind. It was mainly the rear invading kind that was stuck in her head.

She let out a sigh as she got back to her hooves, watching the spears jut up into the air once more. At least this was something that she understood. It wasn’t the first time she’d been through a spear, arrow, and boulder filled hallway, especially with Mom and Dad bringing her along all the time. Although, they did have them disarmed whenever she was around… but that wasn’t the point.

The path ahead went on for quite a ways, far enough that she couldn’t see where to go next; the ceiling had sloped down in the middle, blocking her view. She waited until the tips slipped under the ground before jumping down and sprinting across as fast as she could. There was only a few seconds until they’d shoot back up again, and she couldn’t be here when that happened.

She got past the middle and thankfully the end was right there. Only a quick hop up and she’d be safe. But she could feel the time running out, anticipating that mechanical whoosh at any moment. Her hooves pounded the ground, rushing faster right up until she heard a click.

Without even thinking, she jumped as fast as she could, beating hard with her wings to get as much distance as possible. The spears shot up fast enough that it grazed her tail as she soared past. She wasn’t getting poked today!

Her hooves touched down on the end and she let out a small giggle, conquering yet another foe of this place. But as she looked further along, she could see it wasn’t getting any easier. The spiked areas weren’t as long, but they were a lot more numerous, and some of them were even springing up as soon as the others were going down.

She sprinted through, hopping up each ledge before the spikes came jutting out. She didn’t know how Mom and Dad managed stuff like this, but she was starting to figure it out. She’d just have to time everything perfectly and she’d be alright.

However, timing might be the issue. In the next section the spears were alternating when they came up. There weren’t as many ledges to jump over, but the longer stretches had many of those alternating groups, some long and some small.

The first few groups were easy. When both groups of spears were sunk into the ground she ran and then stopped when she was at a safe section. Then after waiting for the spears in front of her to sink back to the ground she’d run again as far as she could till she got to another momentarily safe spot.

These spears weren’t difficult per se, but she had to focus. One misstep, going too far, or not far enough, and… she didn’t even want to think about it. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. With short bursts of speed she made her way forward one group at a time.

A slimy shot rang out.

She looked up just in time to see a glob of blue slime shooting her way. “Ah!” she yelped as she reflexively jumped over it, landed, and then lunged forward to avoid the spikes shooting up behind her.

When did that get here?!

She could see a few others bouncing ahead, but this one was stopped and focused on her now. But as she dodged another slimy blue bullet, she smirked as she saw the spikes come up around the blue creature.

Her smile dropped in an instant. The creature seemed completely unfazed, like the spears weren’t even there.

“No- Ah!” she yelped and dove forward, narrowly missing the spikes again. “No fair!”

She looked up and the path was clear, all the spikes were down and that slime was in her sights. Getting to her hooves she sprinted over to that blue slime before it shot. Her hoof made contact and she felt it fall apart under her strike.

The floor clicked underneath and the blue tipped spears came up all around her. She braced for the worst as the pointed ends hit her square in the chest, but instead of ending her adventure, it tossed her high up into the air until she came crashing down to the floor.

The now-familiar electrifying warmth radiated through her body in an instant; the same kind of punishing heat that everything else in this place gave her. She shook her head on the floor in disbelief. What? Was she going to get violated by a bunch of spears this time? However, it was better than the alternative-

She felt the spikes come up and hit her in the back. “Ow!” she yelped.

As she came crashing down the floor this time, she scrambled to her hooves and sprinted to the near-by ledge ahead. She had to get out fast. The motors whirred underneath her and that subtle click could be heard as they armed themselves. Daring jumped up high, using her wings to get that little bit of extra lift to soar all the way over. At least here it was safe.

Besides another of those slimes taking a few shots for her to hop over, it was a moment of respite. Right… maybe taking a break in the middle of a spiked floor after getting hit like that was a bad idea.

Daring looked up through a straight shaft upwards. All the way up were small, spear filled alcoves on the side that she’d have to jump back and forth from until she got to the very top. The maze had been long, but hopefully this would be the last obstacle until she got to another reset point… or got out of this place entirely, but that might be a little too much to ask.

This vertical route was the first time she saw it, but it wasn’t the first time she had gone through this spear section. Another slime shot, and falling onto the spikes right after, had sent her back to the gem in an instant. Luckily, the way back had been a bit easier now that she knew what to expect, but she still didn’t make it out unscathed, managing to get hit twice on the way here.

It wasn’t that bad. At least the floor was cold hard stone instead of that soft squishy goo. Though her butt may thank her for that fact, her bones might have a different opinion; hopefully gravity would send her back to the reset as well.

The mechanical thrusts above were constant. The spears on the right side of ledges shot out while the left retracted, but by the time they were in the ground, the other side shot out again. She huffed out and trotted in place; she’d have to be in the air before the other side was even clear, leaving that moment where neither side was safe.

“Well… there’s only one way up…” she said as she timed the first jump, landing on the ledge and running right to the wall inside a small alcove. The spikes started to go down… and she had to wait… for the perfect… now! She dashed forward with her running start, leaping as soon as she heard the floor under her click. The spears shot out with that mechanical whoosh but she was already gone.

The blue tips on the other side were still going down. She beat her wings to get that little bit extra height, and as she saw them sink completely into the floor, her hooves touched down.

Only a few dozen more and she’d be out of here!