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Daring Do and the Lost Tome of Shadows

by whiterook6

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Heights

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Daring flared her wings wide the instant she was inside the tent, slowing enough that when she crashed she didn’t continue on and tear a hole through the rear wall. She froze and held her breath, listening for any indication that they’d spotted her, but from the conversation she heard they were completely unaware. The patrol had just left that tent before she’d made her entrance. She had maybe two minutes.

Swearing quietly, she sprang to her hooves and looked around. The inside of the tent was very dark but she had no time to wait for her eyes to adjust. Unrolled across the ground were three bedrolls, messily unmade and empty. She crawled over them to a bundle of clothing—jackets, bandanas, a quad of boots—nothing there. She pulled the bedrolls apart. Nothing underneath. Towards the opening were a pair of saddlebags; inside one she found a canteen, a bit of food, some carabiners, and a hammer. No no no!

She bit back a groan and was about to throw the saddlebags away when she remembered she didn’t have her own. These weren’t too heavy, so she quickly strapped them on. While they would slow her down a little, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to replace her lost canteen.

She peeked under the opening flap. The patrol was nearing the tent on his circular route, while the support was done chatting with her boss. The other tent was right there, but she couldn’t rush across while he was approaching.

Oh. Nor could she just hide in the tent and wait for another opportunity. How unfortunate. Guess I’ll have to ask nicely.

She grinned. Nothing for it; she’d have to surprise the patrol the moment he poked his head in. She knew Rose could keep up.

Time for Plan B: Bust ’Em Up.

Daring pointed herself towards the opening and readied herself. Hoofclops approached the tent, and a shadow fell over the tent canvas. Daring pulled her wings in tight, stretched out for a better launch, and tried to guess where the stallion’s head and face would be. A hoof pulled open the flap. Daring leapt, punching forehoof outstretched—and missed.

Daring had fully expected to slam into the stallion’s face, and the open air and bright sun stunned her. She barely had to time to register that the stallion had turned and was facing away before she flew through another tent flap, for her second rough, indoor landing of the day.

“Guh?” she groaned, rolling off of her face and onto her haunches. The tent was empty. Boss-Pony, whoever he was, was outside; she could hear him, the Unicorn mare, and the other stallion all talking very loudly and very quickly. She crawled over and peeked under the flap. All three were standing near the edge of the encampment, and Daring could sense the prickly feeling of magic, like a buzzing under her coat. Could the Unicorn sense her? Even worse, Daring saw a pair of wings on Boss-Pony—losing a pursuer was much harder if that pursuer was a Pegasus.

Daring shuffled back and looked around the tent. Unlike the other tent, this was lit by a small, dull orange lantern on a low desk. Beside it was a pile of rough paper maps, held down by a stone paperweight. She quickly leafed through them. They were rough, crude charcoal drawings, not to scale, showing small islands in the ocean, city layouts with secret tunnel networks, or hidden oases in arid deserts. One in particular caught her eye, though. It was covered drawings of jungle trees, a mountain ridge, and, at the end of the indicated path, a tower. Writing covered most of the blank space, scrawled by a sloppy mouth-writer. She shoved it into her bag and continued her search.

What’s this? A small chest sat towards the back. It was unlocked, and inside was the crystal they’d assembled in the watchtower. She sighed in relief. While she wasn’t sure why they thought they still needed it, recovering stolen artifacts, no matter the situation, always felt rewarding. She slid it into her saddlebag, gave one last glance around the tent, then crawled to the door and peeked out, hoping nopony was nearby.

The three ponies were standing around something, talking quickly and loudly, and although Daring couldn’t make out what was going on, a sense of dread settled on her wings. Rose!

“Daring!” whispered a voice from behind her. She whirled around. Rose had pulled out several tent pegs from the ground and was holding the rear wall open, with just enough room for a pony to look inside, or for another to slide out.

“Rose! What’s going on?” Daring hissed.

“Did you find yer book?” Rose asked.

“No! They must’ve hidden it somewhere else. What’s going on outside?”

Rose shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. We need to leave!”

“Rose! What’s out there?”

Rose sighed. “Cairo’s here. Ah think he brought his cat back. And he’s pissed.”

Daring froze, then whipped around to face the entrance. Before she could launch herself into the clearing, a hoof grabbed at her tail. Rose had shoved herself under the tent wall up to her shoulders.

“Daring! No! Don’t be stupid! We’re outnumbered two-to-one, and two of ’em are Unicorns!”

“I don’t care! He’s got my notebook! You don’t understand!” She reached around and tried to pull free of Rose’s grip. “Let go! It’s my only chance!”

“We’ll follow him. We can keep him in sight, figure out where he’s going and what he’s up to. We won’t lose yer notebook. Please!” she begged, reaching with her free hoof to grab Daring’s. “Yer just gonna get us caught.”

Daring looked back outside. She could see Cairo talking to the other ponies, and at his hooves was a sad, soggy lump of jungle cat. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the others were listening attentively and nodding. Not only was Daring losing her chance to get her notebook, but she was missing out on whatever their plans were.

“Rose, are you gonna help me or not?” Daring asked, looking over her shoulder at Rose.

Rose sighed and shook her head. “No. If you go out there, yer on yer own. It’s a stupid idea.” Rose let go of Daring, and slid back out of the tent, holding the bottom up enough for Daring to slip through.

Outside, Cairo had finished talking. His horn glowed briefly, there was a flash of purple light and a loud crack, and then he was gone. Daring pulled at her mane in frustration and groaned.

The patrol whipped his head around. “I heard something,” he said.

“Crap!” Daring hissed, pulling back and spinning around to face Rose.

“Hey!” the patrol yelled.

Daring shrugged off her saddlebags and slid them under the tent wall for Rose to pull through.

“Get them!” the Unicorn yelled. Hooves thundered towards them.

Daring threw herself at the opening, getting stuck almost immediately. “Help!”

The tent opened. “She’s in the tent! There’s another outside!” A hoof grabbed Daring’s hindleg and pulled. With her head outside the tent she couldn’t see the pony, so she kicked blindly until she felt her hoof hit something vital, loosening his grip.

Rose grabbed Daring’s forehooves and yanked. Daring popped free and sent them both rolling into a nearby tree. Rose was up first, helping Daring to her hooves before throwing the saddlebags at her. The Pegasus zoomed around the tent, but with the treeline so close he quickly had to pull up above the canopy.

“C’mon!” Rose yelled, running back into the jungle.

---

Rose hid against a tree where the canopy was thickest, tried to slow her breathing, and waited for the Pegasus to zoom overhead. Once the sky was clear she and Daring turned and hurried off at a right angle.

Soon they’d put a sizeable distance between themselves and the camp. They stopped to catch their breath. Rose leaned against a tree and chugged from her canteen, surprised at how thirsty she could get in such a humid environment. Daring sat opposite her and started nosing through her saddlebags, ignoring the concerned looks Rose gave her.

After a few moments Rose said, “Daring, you know goin’ after Cairo’s a bad idea right now.”

“No, I don’t,” Daring growled. “I mean it’s not a bad idea. You think I should just let him keep my notebook?”

“No, of course not, but as long as he’s got his magic we’re not gonna beat him head-on,” Rose explained patiently.

Daring grumbled and kept digging through her bags.

“And if you’d gone barrelin’ in there, he’d’ve caught you and tied you up or something.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She sighed, and pulled her head out of her saddlebags. “Except—”

“Except it sucks when you gotta hold back and let somepony else win, right?”

Daring scoffed. “Are you kidding? I get beat lots. I just wish he hadn’t taken my notebook. Anything else, no problem. I can just get it back. But that’s my mom’s notebook. It’s just as historic and valuable as any other relic.”

Rose nodded. “But he needs it to get to the Tome. He ain’t gonna let anything happen to it while he needs it.” She smiled. “And this way, we can follow him right to the Lost Tome and hit him back when he’s distracted.”

“Except that he can teleport,” Daring reminded her.

Rose frowned. “Except that he can teleport.”

“Anyways, I don’t think we need to follow him. Check this out,” Daring said, pulling out a large roll of canvas.

“A map?” Rose asked.

“I grabbed it from the tent,” Daring said, smoothing it on the ground and pinning the corners flat with small stones.

Rose leaned closer. It was roughly scrawled, with more drawings than actual map features, but she could piece it together. There was the jungle they’d hiked through, with several large scars cutting through it; maybe one was the ravine. The trees ended near a ridge, and continued after some time on the other side. A circled point marked out the encampment, although presumably there hadn’t been a camp until very recently. Some nearly illegible notes suggested it was a good resting point before continuing on to . . . “Where does it lead?” Rose asked.

Daring pointed to a small black circle, and a tall pointy rectangle, near the top of the map, with an arrow from one to the other. “I don’t know what this is,” she said, tapping the circle then the tower, “but these look like more ruins. Maybe another watchtower?” She frowned. “Whoever made this map knows a lot more about this jungle than I do.”

“Ya suppose Cairo’s already found it?”

“Maybe, but there’s nothing about what it looks like, or if it’s even still there. I bet the pony that made this map only saw the tower from a distance. It might not even be Cairo’s map.”

She reached back into her saddlebag and pulled out something else. “Then there’s this little beauty.”

Daring placed the crystal on the map. “I guess he left his minions to take care of it while he went looking for his cats. I found it in a chest.”

“He left the crystal, but not your notebook?” Rose asked.

“Maybe it’s not all that valuable.”

Rose shook her head. “It was hidden in a chest. No way it’s an ordinary rock.”

“But I’ve got no idea what it’s for. Do you?”

“Ah’m pretty sure Ah don’t know,” Rose said slowly.

Daring tapped the crystal, then smirked at Rose. “Well, use your imagination.

Rose looked at her, then realization dawned, like she’d suddenly remembered her previous adventures. “Right. Lemme think.”

She looked at the map. The small black circle could refer to the crystal, but the notes about it were smudged and poorly written. The arrow connected it and the tower—maybe it was a direction, which would mean the circle was a feature of the landscape, not just a drawing. “Some sort of hole in the ground? A door?” She looked at Daring for confirmation, but the Pegasus simply shrugged.

Maybe the arrow wasn’t a direction, but an action, like in an instruction booklet. “Do we put the two together? Use this circle on the tower?”

“Maybe . . . ”

“If that circle means this stone, then we gotta take this stone to that tower.” She paused, then nodded in satisfaction. “Somehow it’s the key to getting us inside.”

Daring’s eyes went wide and she grabbed Rose. A smile stretched across her face. “Rose, you’re a genius!”

“Ah am?”

“It’s a key!” She let go of Rose, grabbed the crystal, and held it up to inspect it. “In fact, it already unlocked the secret chamber below the watchtower. Of course it’s a key! It could unlock something at this tower, too.” She gasped. “Maybe a door. Maybe it’s the temple! Why would they draw one watchtower and not the other? Those ponies knew how to get to the temple, and with this they could get inside. So can we! We can catch Cairo before he gets to the treasure!” She leapt to her hooves and started cramming everything back into her saddlebags. “C’mon!”

“Wait!” Rose stared at Daring. “How do you know Ah’m right?”

“I don’t! Isn’t it exciting?”

---

Twilight flitted back and forth over her tower, carefully sculpting rock into art and then demolishing it.

“Oh, sure,” she huffed, “just ignore the complicated runes lining the border of the map.” She waved her hoof over a facet of stone, chiseling pictographs and line art into the surface.

“And ignore the carefully smudged diagrams, showing the time of day and the day of the year—both conveniently this afternoon, of course.”

Her horn glowed. She blasted a chunk of rock from the corner. Smoke and debris blew past her. She waved a hoof in front of her face, fanning away the smoke, then smoothed over the hole to leave a worn, weathered look.

Unlike the watchtower, she wanted this to be more of an obelisk: straighter, with a square base, and narrower; no visible entrance; and ornate carvings up each face to the top, capped with a dazzling pyramidal peak.

“And how about the writing on the back? Those riddles were fun to solve, right? Oh, wait, you didn’t even flip it over!

She sighed, absently flicking her horn. The earth groaned as the obelisk turned to face the sun just so. In truth, she’d only spent about five minutes designing that map; she wasn’t totally surprised that they’d only given it about five minutes’ worth of attention. In contrast, creating the camp and animating the minions had taken nearly half an hour, and they’d spent at least that much time skulking and sneaking around. She supposed spending as much time on creating a scene as they’d spend experiencing it was a good judge of effort.

She frowned. She’d made the entrance to the temple more dangerous than she’d expected. There was a clear path that, once found, they’d be able to follow, but the heights were more . . . high that she had realized at first. She didn’t want them wasting too much time, no matter how much effort she’d put in.

“There’s nothing wrong with making things a bit safer,” Twilight decided, before sprouting a few more ledges for the two ponies to climb. “And I’ll be following them from out of sight—somehow—so even if Rose does slip and fall, I can catch her.”

Satisfied, she turned back to the obelisk’s crown. A few more finishing touches, then she hugged herself and spun around. “Ooh, I just can’t wait!”

---

The jungle thinned ahead, and Rose could hear the sound of a gentle breeze. She looked downwards and pushed through the final wall of leaves, emerging into the bright sunlight. Just ahead of her hooves was a stone path, its paving made rough and erratic from grass and weeds pushing through the stonework. She looked up. It shot forward towards the base of a large stone structure that Rose immediately recognized as the tower from Daring’s stolen map.

Beside her, Daring whooped with excitement and shot ahead. Rose hurried to keep up, watching for movement in the jungle around them. Small stone posts circled the clearing, like a pasture fence. The rest of the the vegetation and trees had been cut clear, although in some places the wilderness had pushed back.

Just off of the center of the clearing stood the tower. It was very tall, taller than the tallest buildings back home, but made of solid stone and much narrower. Its top was cut into a pyramid whose point might once have shimmered in the sun but now was worn smooth and dull. From a distance the sides looked rougher than the corners, or perhaps carved.

Ahead, the stone path split into two and curved around some sort of dip in the ground before joining together at the other side, next to the tower. Rose slowly approached the edge, and her eyes widened as the bottom failed to appear.

The hole was more than a dip. The ground quickly fell away, leaving a steep cliff that dug deep. It was at least as wide around at the rim as the tower was tall, and just as deep. The rim was smoothed over with stonework, and the whole thing looked like some angry ancient god had stomped a hole through a town square.

The bottom started to wobble and vertigo took her for a second. She backed up, shook her head, and looked towards the treeline. She wasn’t so good with heights, apparently.

And she just knew eventually Daring was gonna try and persuade her to climb down there.

Daring flew over. “It’s so cool!” she said. “The craftsponyship on the obelisk is amazing. You can barely see the edges where the stones were placed together, and the carvings are so detailed! Look at these ornaments! You gotta see it!”

Daring led her around the sinkhole to the base of the obelisk. Rose had underestimated its size—from the base, it was massive and seemed to touch the sky.

“You can’t see from down here,” Daring said, “but there are huge fire pits at the top. This might’ve been a lighthouse.”

Rose looked up. The obelisk loomed over her, casting a deep shadow on the ground around her. The stonework had been worn smooth, but she could still make out carvings all over its face. “What do they mean?” she asked.

“Dunno. There was something in my notebook, I think, but . . . ” Daring shook her head and pulled the map from her saddlebag. Floating beside Rose, she held it open in front of them. “This is the obelisk, and the sinkhole back there is the big black circle. Now we just gotta find a way inside.”

Rose walked around the base, paying close attention to the carvings and the tiny seams she could occasionally spot between stones, but there was no hint of an door or secret entrance.

She met Daring on the other side. “There might not be anything inside. Maybe it’s just another milestone.” When Daring cocked an eyebrow she said quickly, “Ah know, Ah know. But this thing’s so big there’s no way we’d find some tiny keyhole, or whatever.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Daring said, hovering beside her. “Cairo’s goons had this map, it leads here, and they’re looking for the Tome of Shadows, but there’s nothing here.” She looked around. “Do you suppose they haven’t gotten here yet? There’s no sign of them.”

Rose shook her head. “Not without their map, but Ah bet they’re not too far back. Cairo seemed to know what he was doin’.” She looked up at the imposing height of the obelisk. “It might just be a distraction, Daring.”

“If it isn’t the obelisk, then what?”

A sinking feeling flooded Rose’s gut. “Daring,” Rose said, “do ya remember what Cairo said? About where the Tome was?”

“He said it was buried deep in the jungle,” Daring said, tapping her chin. “Well, we are definitely deep in the jungle.”

“No, no, he said under. Buried deep under the jungle.” Rose looked back towards the sinkhole. “He said it’s in a temple under the jungle. Ah bet we’ve gotta go down there.

They approached the edge. Rose gulped. “Wonderful.”

Daring Do snorted. “So there’s a little bit of altitude involved. Big deal.”

“Daring Do,” Rose reminded her, careful to put as much sarcasm as possible into her words, “have ya forgotten that Ah can’t fly?”

Daring knocked a not-too-small rock over the edge; several seconds later she heard a faint knocking. “It’s not that far,” she assured Rose, wincing when she heard another knock. “Still not that far.”

Rose rolled her eyes, then settled onto her gut and carefully peered out over the edge. The smoothed stonework only descended a little way before cracks and missing sections began appearing where nature had taken over. Below that she could see raw rock covered in moss and shining with moisture. The bottom was faint and dark, with a hint of sky reflected from what Rose assumed was a pool of water. This close there was an obvious breeze, occasionally gusting very briefly, bringing a clean smell of grass, rock, and water from the bottom.

She backed up, looking for the horizon. “You could fly down there, sure, but Ah’d have to hang out up here. Not unless you can find me some stairs.”

“Yeah, I could probably fly down there.” Daring looked down and announced, “It’d be too dangerous for a regular Pegasus, of course—unpredictable air currents, sharp edges, too little light…” she went silent for a moment, then continued, “No, I could totally make it.”

“Daring Do? You listening to me? How do I get down there?”

“By taking the stairs?” Daring suggested, pointing.

There was a path, of sorts. A narrow staircase wound around the inside of the rim. It didn’t go far before it met the bottom of the stonework, at which point a path dug into the wall took over. The rock walls had irregular shapes worn away from small streams tumbling over their rim, and the different strata poked out at different places, forming short paths and sudden ledges that jutted out from the rest of the wall. Here and there foliage and grass colored the walls, but farther down the light cut off enough that nothing would grow. Once a pony got past the first grassy, slippery bits the rest would be easy—assuming the ledges and paths continued all the way down. It was too dark to tell.

Daring continued, “If we don’t try it, and if we don’t find another clue, we gotta turn back.”

“This is lookin’ more and more life-or-death.”

“It’s fine,” Daring insisted. “If you wind up blocked we’ll just back up.”

Rose took a deep breath and then nodded. “Fine. But if Ah fall, yer haulin’ mah heavy ass out of there.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes and flew across the sinkhole, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to inspect the path. Rose followed, trying to avoid looking too far down, and stopped at the top of the landing. The stairs descended at a steep incline, spiralling down the inside. It looked sturdy enough. If it was still hanging over the rim after this long, Rose figured it wasn’t about to crumble beneath the additional weight of one pony. She could at least go to the last step and then reevaluate.

Staying close to the wall, Rose quickly descended the stairs, slowing when she approached the end. Ahead, natural rock formations had left ledges and paths that continued roughly to the bottom.

Daring hovered in front of her nodded seriously. “Well, regular ponies wouldn’t dare try it. Too steep, and some of those ledges aren’t very big. Looks like it’s up to us!” she decided.

Rose leveled a stare at her. “Thanks.” She craned her head down, trying to eye the distance to the first ledge. Only a meter or two, not that far. “And there’s more down below? Enough to get to the bottom?”

“Oh, totally. I’m probably completely positive.”

“Yer quite the confidence builder, ya know that?” She rolled her eyes. “Okay. Here we go!”

She leaned low, slid her forehooves off the edge, and kicked forward.

---

Rose shook out the ache from her right hindleg and grumbled. Some of the ledges were large enough for her to stand comfortably, and for some parts down the sinkhole wall there were paths she could follow for a fair distance, but enough of the descent was from precarious ledge to narrow, slippery rock, and jumping and landing awkwardly in tight spots was killing her legs.

She looked up. The walls of the sinkhole stretched far above her. She was low enough now that the sun never directly touched the walls, and the dense brush had faded through moss to a dull slime on the wetter parts of the sinkhole. Down below the bottom was barely lit by reflected daylight, and without any wind the surface was still as a mirror.

Daring flew over to her and pointed. The path ahead switched back and continued on behind her, barely descending. All the actual downward progress was made with the large drops between sections.

“Ah’m comin’,” Rose insisted, readjusting her saddlebags. She followed Daring along the path to the next drop, gauged its distance, and slid forward over the edge, keeping her weight close to the wall so that when she landed there was less chance of tipping over.

“Hold on,” Daring said. “Let me check the next part.”

Daring floated on ahead. Rose carefully walked forward, keeping an eye on the path. She now knew well enough to watch for the shiny patches of rock, indicating slipperiness, and to look for any cracks that stretched up and over the inside edge, possibly indicating a weak section—she’d already discovered both during her descent.

Daring flew back. “Uh, okay. No biggie, but . . . the next part is tricky.”

Rose forced herself to stay calm. “Tricky how?”

“It’s just a long jump,” Daring said quickly, floating between her and the section in question. “Not too long, I’m pretty sure you can make it, just that it looks farther than it is.”

Rose ducked and looked under Daring’s wings, then rushed past her to the edge.

“Celestia’s royal ass!” Rose swore. “Ah know you think Ah’m some sort of super athlete, Daring Do, but Ah can’t jump much farther than a normal pony. That’s at least two strides away.”

“If it were a flat jump, maybe, but the drop should give you enough time to cover the distance.” She landed in front of Rose and lined herself up. “Watch!”

She ran over the edge and glided down to the landing.

“You used yer wings!” Rose cried.

“Well, I can’t jump as far as you can. I didn’t have to use them very much.” Daring floated back. “See?” She pointed up. “Not much farther than those jumps.”

It certainly looked farther. “And if Ah can’t make it?”

Daring looked around, then down at the lake at the bottom. “Can you swim?”

Rose growled.

“C’mon, I’m just joking. I know you can do this. It just looks farther than it is because it’s a little scary. That’s all.”

“Don’t try that, Daring. Ah know what you’re trying to do.”

“What? I’m just reassuring you that you can overcome your fears and triumph over this ledge. I know you’re not gonna let a little optical illusion scare you, right?”

“Daring . . . ”

“And certainly the brave and incredible lucky Rose Gambit isn’t scared of a little jump, not when she’s faced dangerous jungle cats and evil Unicorns, right?”

“Daring.” Rose shut her eyes and rubbed her temple. “Just . . . just find another way, ’kay?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Daring floated downwards at a careful pace. Rose leaned her head over, watching Daring until she the height made her feel like she was falling, before looking up at the sky and taking a deep breath.

She should never have let the birdbrain talk her into this.

---

Twilight watched them from the rim of the sinkhole. Rose wasn’t taking the route she’d expected, but with Daring Do keeping close and their attention very focused, Twilight was able to pop out steps here and there to fill in the gaps without them noticing.

Of course, she’d made the cenote very deep. Her best guess was just shy of fifteen meters, enough that they’d feel suitably awed—and nervous—but not so deep that they’d have to risk Daring Do carrying Rose to the bottom. A challenge worthy of two adventurous ponies, but it meant Twilight would have to descend while they were still navigating it, or else risk messing up the projected ledges near the end.

Getting down the cenote would be hard. Well, she thought, without being seen. Teleporting generated too loud and bright of a burst, and unless they were looking away, the purple glow would give her away in an instant. A number of distractions flew through her mind, ranging from falling rocks to a magical glow at the bottom of the pool to a lens diffracting light around her. In the end, in favor of a natural option they wouldn’t question, she chose the wind.

Twilight gulped. Even with her wings—even with several weeks of flight practice from Rainbow Dash herself—the sudden drop was disorienting. She couldn’t understand how Pegasi could just step off of ledges like the one in front of her, even without the dangerous rock walls surrounding that drop. But she needed finer-grained control over the fireworks she had planned for the bottom, and the heroes were quickly reaching the limits of her projection.

She judged the distance, then backed up a few steps. It was already obviously a bad idea. She took a deep breath, clenched her jaw, and threw herself over the edge.

She expected to spend a few moments hanging in mid-air, even feel a hint of weightlessness. Instead the mouth of the sinkhole swallowed her whole without hesitation, and she hit terminal velocity so quickly that she didn’t notice any freefall. The rock walls and deep green vegetation of the cenote sped into a blur. The rush of air was loud enough that even her yells were pushed aside. She struggled to keep her wings shut, and focused her Pegasus magic. A gust of wind shot towards Rose from above, pushing her into the wall and forcing her to cover her eyes and look away. At the same time another gust flew right into Daring Do, sending her tumbling for a second before she could right herself.

It took less than a second to pass Daring Do and Rose. Suddenly the cenote was very, very shallow, not nearly as deep as she’d thought, and she could see the bottom, a small, beautiful turquoise lake rushing up at her. She shrieked, flaring her wings and kicking her legs. The sudden lift shoved her sideways and sent her tumbling end over end and nearly into the wall. In a panic she summoned a burst of wind to slow her approach, but her Pegasus-infused magic went wide—very wide.

Twilight landed in a heap at the bottom, the wind knocked out of her. For a moment she wondered why it was so dry, then heard a low rumble. She lifted her head to see a wall of water rushing inwards from all around, and had just enough time to fling Daring Do and the Legend of the Metalsmith to safety.

Her swearing was muffled by waves crashing over her.

---

Daring carefully navigated the remaining depths and approached the bottom. Down here the air was turbulent, threatening to send a lesser Pegasus tumbling into the wall. She had flap her wings harder than normal, tilting and turning just to keep still. She wasn’t far from where Rose was waiting, and below she was sure she could see the sparkle of a pool of water, though it was dark enough that she couldn’t really tell.

There was a landing near the bottom, reaching from the wall almost all the way to the middle, only a few meters above the surface of the water. Below that, there were no other ledges, and certainly no other paths. Wherever they were going, this was their last stop, but she still hadn’t found a door or entrance.

There were some ledges popping out from the wall, but none of them looked large enough to support a full-grown pony, and definitely none large enough to reassure Rose. This was a problem. Daring rubbed her chin and concentrated. The proper ledges stopped a few meters above the landing. Daring wasn’t an expert on what Earth Ponies could jump but she’d certainly want to use her wings if she had to make that drop.

Daring recalled the carabiners in her stolen saddlebags. Maybe Rose had some rope she could use to get down the last little bit. It was a long shot, but Daring didn’t feel too good about any of the other ideas bouncing around her head, including using her wingstorm to cushion Rose’s descent, carrying her, or helping her climb back up—Rose would probably want to use Daring as a step stool.

She carefully flapped her way back up to Rose, pausing when she heard a burst of rushing air. The wind had picked up on the surface—

A gust of wind knocked her sideways, nearly into the wall. She fought to regain control, but she was rushing head first towards the rocks. She closed her wings and yelped as she dropped suddenly, but she had to clear the turbulent air. She leaned back and to the side, opening her wings just enough to steer away from the wall in front of her, careful not to slam backwards into the wall behind her.

Something fell past her. “Rose? Rose!

“Daring!” Rose’s voice was faint, but very much coming from up above.

Daring looked up. She could see a faint silhouette on a ledge far above her. Rose was still up there, so obviously some rock had fallen. She was pretty lucky to have avoided being hit on the head.

There was another silhouette blocking the sky above, dropping serenely in the now-still air. Daring flapped over and plucked Rose’s hat from the air. Her eyes had adjusted to the low light and she could make out the battered, dirty stetson in her hoofs. She looked it over, making sure it wasn’t damaged, but the only thing she could find was a smudge on the inside. She rubbed at it.

“Some sort of writing?” She peered close, holding it up into the meager light. An inscription—a couple words, smeared from Rose’s forehead rubbing against it over the years, probably, as well as a healthy amount of sweat. She couldn’t tell what it said.

She shoved the hat into her saddlebags and flew back up the sinkhole. Rose was leaning against the wall for support and looking over the edge. When she saw Daring her face brightened before she forced it into a disapproving scowl.

“Where were ya?”

Daring rolled her eyes. “Hmpf. I thought you’d be more grateful I saved this,” she said, reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out Rose’s hat.

“Ya found it!” Rose exclaimed, reaching for it and almost losing her balance.

Daring floated back, just out of reach, grinning a teasing grin.

“Hey, give it back!” Rose insisted, no longer smiling.

So rude. “Whaddya say?”

Rose stared at her, then yelled, “Get plowed!” and leapt for her hat.

“Whoa! Whoa! Rose!” Daring cried out, wings flapping awkwardly to try and keep them upright, even while Rose scrambled up and over her, reaching for her hat. Only when they started dropping did Rose seem to realize what she’d done.

Their yells filled the cavernous sinkhole.

---

Daring coughed, winced, and opened her eyes. The sky had shrunk to the size of a full moon on a cold night. Wherever she was, it was chilly and humid, but the air was still. She was tangled in a pile of limbs and her saddlebags were poking into places they rightfully shouldn’t be poking.

She wiggled herself free, rolled onto her gut, and pushed herself up on shaky limbs. She was sore all over, but mercifully she didn’t feel the familiar agony of broken bones.

Behind her, Rose groaned. “That hurts. Oof, don’t ever do that again, ’kay?”

“Me?!” Daring whirled around. “You’re the idiot that jumped off a cliff!”

Rose climbed to her hooves and glared at Daring. “And yer the idiot that played keep-away with mah hat. Ah don’t like people messin’ with mah hat,” she said, grabbing the hat out of Daring’s hoof and pressing it on her head.

Daring sputtered, “Your hat?

Rose ignored her and turned to inspect where they were.

Daring reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “You jumped off a cliff—for a hat?

Rose pulled free from her grip and stepped closer, getting in Daring’s face. She was actually a little shorter than Daring, but that didn’t seem to faze her. “It’s Pa’s hat. Don’t you go sayin’ it’s just a hat after that speech you gave me about yer diary.”

“It’s not a diary!” Daring shrieked.

“And ya got so worked up about it, we’re stuck down here!” She pointed at the sheer walls around them.

Daring’s nostrils flared. She didn’t have to take this! “You jumped—”

You made me climb down here in the first place, all because ya lost yer Ma’s notebook,” Rose said, shoving Daring in the chest.

“I didn’t lose it!” She shoved Rose back. “You stole it!”

Rose opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“I trusted you with it and you stole it! Like it didn’t even mean anything to you!”

“Dash—”

“Like I didn’t—”

“Dash!” Applejack cried.

Rainbow Dash paused, panting hard through an open mouth ready to say something she’d probably regret after a while.

“You okay?” Applejack asked. She still looked angry, but there was a hint of concern there, too. “Cairo stole yer book, not me.”

“Uh, yeah.” Her anger and frustration quickly lost their foundation and hung heavy and unsupported in the air. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“Obviously. Yer just actin’, right?”

“I guess. Mostly. I mean, you did just throw yourself off a cliff and expect me to magically make it okay.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed, but before she could say anything Dash held up a hoof and said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s your dad’s hat. But—Off a cliff? Really? When I clearly had a good grip on it? C’mon.”

Applejack fumed for a moment. “Just—just don’t do it again, right?”

“Right.”

Clearly uncomfortable, Applejack changed the subject. “Why’d you say Rock had your notebook?”

“Yeah . . . It’s just—Okay. Daring Do sometimes gets super frustrated at Rock, but never when she’s adventuring. She’s always got some way out, or a lucky break, or a trick shot. She always knows what’s ahead, you know? She knows what she’s doing.”

She looked down and forced the words out. “But me? I’m stuck in the bottom of some hole that’s not supposed to be here, in a jungle that’s not supposed to be here, trying to keep a pony that’s not supposed to be here from getting hurt and another that shouldn’t even exist from stealing a valuable bit of history!” She paused to catch her breath. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

She smiled weakly, only briefly making eye contact before sitting and staring out over the ledge.

Applejack sat beside her and said, “You know, if it makes ya feel better, Ah don’t expect you to know what yer doin’, either.”

“Hey!”

“Ah mean it. You don’t have to put on a show fer me. Ah know yer not really Daring Do.”

“I just thought it would be—I dunno—like in the book.”

Applejack asked, “Why’d ya want me to play Rock, then, if yer just gonna fight and yell at her?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, rubbed the back of her neck, and kept examining the ledge. After a few moments she replied, “Well . . . Rock and Daring weren’t always at each other’s necks. They, uh, they actually had quite the thing going on, according to the books. Like, they hint at it. They keep stealing from each other, and yeah, they fought, but I’m pretty sure Daring enjoyed those encounters. It’s not like all they did was fight.”

“So?”

“So . . . one day Rock lied to Daring—like, really lied—and stole her notebook. Just like Cairo did.”

“You just said they steal from each other all the time.”

“Yeah, but this time they were working together, and—well, Daring was pretty sure things were getting serious between them. Then Rock betrayed her, trapped her, stole her notebook, and tried to make off with the treasure.”

“What an asshole.” Applejack was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. “So, lemme see if Ah got this right: you chose me to be a character that yer character had a thing for? And now hates?”

“I don’t hate you, AJ,” Dash said quickly.

Applejack cocked an eyebrow.

Then Dash’s eyes went wide and she blurted, “And I don’t have a thing for you! I just figured the only way you’d enjoy this was if you played a really cool character! Oh, feathers, I didn’t—”

“Relax,” Applejack laughed, punching Dash in the shoulder. “Ah know what ya meant. Ah just didn’t figure you fer the kind to read trashy romance.”

Dash crossed her hooves and pouted. “It’s not romance.”

There was silence for a couple minutes while they sat in thought, then Dash said, “Hey, we can go back, you know, if it’s not fun anymore. We can totally find you a way out.”

“What about yer book?”

Dash grimaced. “Yeah, well, I’d rather not have to buy Twilight another copy.” At Applejack’s questioning look she explained, “I borrowed it. I think it’s overdue.”

Applejack chuckled, a slight laugh that didn’t stop until Dash had joined in and it had them both howling.

“Of course it is,” Applejack sighed, wiping her eyes.

Dash smiled, then looked up the wall of the sinkhole. “You don’t think there’s actually a treasure, do you? Cairo’s ‘Lost Tome of Shadows’?”

“Ah dunno, all the other junk’s turning true. What’s s’posed to be at the bottom of this hole?”

Dash shook her head. “None of this is in the books. I mean, the cats and the obelisk are kinda similar to some of the stories, but I have no idea what’s down here.” She looked at the wall opposite them and sighed. “If I had to guess . . . a door. We’d be going underground next. But, hey! At least there’s no more heights, huh?”

Applejack groaned. “Yunno, if there’s one thing Ah love more than heights, it’s the dark.” She stood and cracked her neck. “But we’re adventurers, right? Let’s adventure!”

She trotted over to where the ledge met the wall, then paused and looked back at Dash with a teasing grin. “And, look. Ah know ya got a thing fer me and all, ‘Daring Do-Me’, but try an’ keep yer eyes up here, ’kay?”

“Aw, crap,” Dash muttered, burying her face in her hooves.

---

“Now what?” Daring wondered, looking back at the wall. It stretched far above them, and as deep as they were, no sunlight was actually making its way down to them. They still weren’t at the bottom, but as far as Daring could tell this was the last stop before a very rough water landing. If there was anything down here, and if they were gonna find it, then it was gonna have to be right there.

“There’s gotta be a door or something here,” Daring said.

Rose dropped her saddlebag on the ground and pulled out the lantern. “Hold this.” Rose reached back and came out with their sparkstone wrapped in cloth and some lantern oil. With Daring Do holding the lantern and Rose trying not to spill any oil, they managed to fill and light the lantern. It gave off a warm yellow glow that lit their landing and the closest parts of the sinkhole around them, while throwing the upper ledges into shadow. To Daring, it looked like they were in a tiny pocket world, cut off from the surface.

Rose grabbed the handle in her mouth. Very slowly and with what Daring assumed was a very tight grip Rose hovered the lantern over the edge. Just enough light reached the bottom to show inky black water sloshing around, and large boulders all over.

Daring said, “If you want, I can fly the lantern down and get us a better view.”

Rose carefully set the lantern on the ground and shook her head. “Ah don’t want you droppin’ it.”

Daring chuckled. “You just don’t want to be left here in the dark.”

Rose glared at her, then pointedly looked away and took the lantern back to the wall. As far as Daring could tell, it looked much like the rest of the sinkhole: worn smooth in some places, rough and pocked in others; lines marking various strata; moisture dripping down like the inside of a cave.

The light slid over the walls in a lazy pattern while Rose moved back and forth, bringing her eyes close to the wall to look for indents or cut marks, and moving back to see the whole wall at once. After a few minutes Rose set the lantern on the ground and looked back at Daring Do.

“Grab the crystal, won’t’cha?”

Daring nosed through their saddlebags and emerged with the crystal.

“Does it fit anywhere?” Rose asked, holding the lantern with one hoof.

Daring held the crystal near the wall and started comparing the shape of the rock face with the shape of the crystal. “You know, normally keys have locks, but I’m not seeing anything that looks like a lock here.”

“Maybe it fits on the wall, like a button.”

Daring pressed the keystone over the wall and rolled it over the surface, trying to find an indentation or marking that looked like it matched, but it was a large wall. She groaned. “How are we supposed to find a lock if we don’t even know what it looks like?”

“Well, we know a little about their culture. They worshipped the sun, right?”

Daring nodded. “Yeah . . . but I don’t think the sun’ll go high enough overhead to light this place.”

“What else?”

Daring smiled. Rose seemed to enjoy putting her on the spot, but Daring knew these civilizations like she’d made them up. “They had a matriarchal society. They sent their colts and fillies from home when they were old enough to defend themselves. They sacrificed ponies to ward off the night. Oh, and their magic was based more on superstition than actual science.”

Rose turned back to the wall and moved the lantern over the surface, clearly desperate for some sort of hint or clue.

Daring shrugged. “But it’s not like they were renowned for making hidden doors or digging awesome sinkholes. Pretty normal ancient civilization, right?”

“Maybe.” Rose was eyeing the wall, balanced on one front hoof and holding the lantern with the other. “Maybe not. Take a look.”

“Did you find something?” Daring asked quickly, shoving close to where Rose was looking, feeling that thrill of discovery.

“Ah thought Ah saw something glowing, but it must’ve been a reflection from the lantern.”

“Where?”

Rose lifted the lantern in front of her. Sure enough, some sections of the wall were shiny, while others were distinctly dull and matte. Wherever the light reached, there were hints of some sort of pattern inset into the wall. Daring’s heart raced.

“Ah can’t make it all out, though. The light’s not good enough.”

“It shouldn’t be this dark out. I mean, it’s not even . . . It’s not. . . ” Of course!

“Not what?”

“Nighttime! Don’t you see?”

“Uh, no.”

“Rose!” She grabbed Rose by the shoulders. “They were sun worshippers! They feared the night. They’d lock their doors after dark just like the rest of us!” Daring jumped into the air, unable to contain herself.

Rose nodded. “So we need more light!”

“Yeah!” Daring’s smile faltered. “Where are we gonna get more light?”

Rose looked back at the lantern. “Ah just got the one . . . ya got a lantern of yer own?”

Daring shook her head. “There’s gotta be something.” She eyed Rose’s saddlebags. “How much lantern oil do you have left?”

“Relax. The lantern’s tiny, but it’ll keep burning for a while. And there’s another lantern’s worth in the jar.”

“I wasn’t thinking about keeping the lantern lit,” Daring smirked, waggling her eyebrows.

“Oh, nononoNO!” Rose leapt between Daring and the saddlebags. “We need that oil too much to be wasting it on crazy ideas!”

“What else are we gonna do?” Daring looked up. The tiny circle of sky looked redder than she remembered. “We could spend the next couple hours scouring the wall for something, and maybe we’ll get lucky. Or do you wanna climb back up? I mean, I don’t care either way. We could just go home.”

Rose grumbled for a moment. “No, Ah don’ wanna climb back up. Have the stupid oil. Ah bet Ah can see in the dark better than you can, anyways. And quit rubbin’ yer wings in mah face. I get along without ’em just fine.”

Daring grabbed the lantern oil and splashed some over the surface of the rock, making sure to keep from getting any on herself or Rose or their stuff. Soon the jar was empty, and Daring could smell vapors evaporating off the surface.

“You ready?”

Rose groaned and covered her face. “This is a terrible idea,” she muttered, but handed over the sparkstone all the same.

“More like an awesome idea,” Daring corrected, before striking the stone.

Waves of bright yellow fire spread out from in front of Daring, following the splashes of oil. Daring yelped at the sudden flames and jumped back. Heat and light replaced the dank gloominess of the sinkhole, and beneath the fires the rock itself began to glow, some parts reflecting and playing with the light, sending it bouncing around the cavern. Patterns drew themselves in bright yellow, lazily following the heat of the fire. Soon the air around them stank of burnt oil and smoke, and the wall was crisscrossed with dashes and circles.

“Well?” Rose had turned to watch the fireworks. “See anything that looks like it’d fit?”

Daring scanned the wall, but none of the patterns seemed to match the shape of the stone itself. “Keep looking. Something’s gotta match.” She flicked her eyes back and forth, but it all looked the same—exotic patterns, but nothing that said, “Press me!” or otherwise looked like a door, or a lock.

“What are we even lookin’ for?” Rose asked in a rush.

“I dunno! It’s all just lines.”

Daring and Rose spread apart, trying to cover more surface.

“Daring! The fire’s goin’ out!”

It was. The flames had started flickering towards the edges, and the brilliant patterns were fading, quick enough to watch.

Daring wanted to pull her mane out. So close! “We need more light! Quick! Smash the lantern!”

“No! We are not smashin’ the lantern!” Rose snapped, clearly not so calm either. “What’s on the crystal?”

“Nothing—it’s just clear—Oh, shit!

“Son of a bitch!”

Rose and Daring made eye contact and then dove for the crystal. Daring’s hooves hit Rose’s and they brushed it over the edge. Daring gasped and leapt to follow it, twisting to grab at the stone as it tumbled towards the water, where they’d never find it.

“Daring! Hurry!” Rose urged, desperation in her voice.

Daring grabbed the crystal mid-dive and threw it back at Rose, who nearly fell on her backside trying to catch it. Even from her view Daring could tell the fire was nearly done burning—apparently rock didn’t burn well without oil covering it. The patterns didn’t last long without fire, either.

Daring flew back up just as Rose leapt at the wall and slapped the crystal onto it, crying out as flames licked dangerously near her face. Patterns burst out from the surface of the crystal, bright yellow and three dimensional.

“Six lines, each bending into a spiral, three circles, upside-down—There!” Daring pulled the crystal from Rose’s grasp, nearly taking Rose along with it, and slid it over the area, just as the last of the flames flicked out.

Nothing happened. “It’s not working!” Daring called out.

“Upside-down!” Rose yelled.

“Argh!” Daring flipped it over and slammed it against the wall.

Light filled her vision, bright enough that she couldn’t tell the lantern from the rock underneath, bright enough that the sky above was black, bright enough that she could see the glow through her eyelids, bright enough—

It was over. The yelling stopped. She looked around and found that she was lying on her side nearly over the edge. A quick flap and she was airborne, and quickly hovered over to Rose, who was leaning back on her haunches and rubbing her face.

“Well?” Rose asked. “Did it work?”

Daring couldn’t tell. The wall looked the same. She floated over the edge; the water below sloshed about, unimpressed with their excitement. Above, the sky had turned an early-evening pink.

“It had to do something,” Daring said, looking back and forth, but the only change she could tell was that the purple glow they’d seen from above was gone. “Something . . . You wanna try again?” she asked, looking around for the stone. “Where’d the key go?”

Rose pointed. By her hooves lay several blackened pieces of crystal; even as Daring watched they seemed to evaporate, taking their hard-won victory and leaving an inky black haze that sank over the side.

“Maybe we can get another one,” Daring suggested.

Rose shook her head. “And do what? Waste more oil?” She looked up at the small opening to the sky above. “It’s probably not even a key. Who says the door is even down here?”

“It’s gotta be down here. That’s how these things go, Rose. At the last moment, just as the heroes lose hope, something opens up and lets them in. We’ve just gotta keep trying.” She hovered beside the wall. “Something that magical has a purpose. Who’d go to the trouble of setting up those fireworks if there was no purpose?”

“So, what, then? Sit and wait for somepony to kindly open the door for us?” She snorted. “Not for long, Ah hope. Ah’m gettin’ hungry.”

“Don’t you have food in your pack?”

Rose frowned. “Wait. That’s not mah gut grumbling. Ya feel that?” she asked, tapping the rock beside her. Dash landed and pressed her ear to the ground. It was rumbling, and getting louder. Pebbles and loose shale started rattling and bouncing around. Something was happening.

Clonk! The two of them jumped as something large and metallic snapped shut very close by. They turned nervously to watch the wall.

Then the floor opened up beneath them and they tumbled into the darkness.

Author's Notes:

Author’s notes are available here. Next time: Traps or Depths. If you're enjoying the story so far, leave a comment and tell me what you like!

With assistance from Daetrin. Cover art by Foxinshadow. Alternate cover art by Diremuffin.

-wr

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Depths Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 17 Minutes
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