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Spear of the Windigos (Daring Do #2)

by BookeCypher

Chapter 10: Chapter 9

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“Daring!” Zapapple shouted as the earth pony trudged through the snow after her friend, but Daring either couldn't hear or was simply ignoring her. Zap found herself slightly thankful for the nearly blizzard conditions that kept her pegasus friend from simply flying off without her. “Daring, slow down! You aren't making any sense!”

Daring wheeled around and dropped down in front of her friend. She sank up to her knees into the snow as the wind threatened to tear her hat off and carry it into the white void around them. Even in the shadow of the castle, with the great stone monolith and the ruin atop it providing cover from the worst of the storm, the to mares could barely hear themselves think.

Daring trudged up to her friend, fear and panic clear on her face. “Ahuizotl said it himself – that was the Spear of the Windigos! The creatures that nearly plunged Equestria into an eternal winter before it could even be founded! And we helped let them out!”

“Daring, that wasn't our fault,” Zapapple said as she laid a hoof on her friends shoulder. “We couldn't have stopped this.”

“I know...” Daring nodded with a sigh as she let her had hang for a moment. In an instant though, her head shot up as she locked eyes with
Zap, brow furrowed. “...but we can sure as Tartarus do something about it now.” She turned around before unfurling her wings and shooting into the air with a single flap, though this time she stayed closer to Zapapple. “Come on – we've got to get back to the research camp.”

“For what?” Zap asked as she started through the snow again. A tremor was starting in her hooves as the cold began to sink in, but she did her best to ignore it. At the least, walking through the snowfall was plenty enough work to keep her warm.

“Notes,” Daring replied as she pushed against the wind. “records, artifacts – anything that might give us a clue of how to stop this.” Around them, the wind began to pick up as they left the far-reaching cover of the Castle and its outcropping and into the storm proper. The scene around them was a solid sheet of white, and the only indicator that they were going the right way was the looming silhouette of the castle behind them. Slowly, however, another collection of shapes began to emerge from the white ahead of them. They were slow to resolve as they drew closer, and it wasn't until they were practically on top of them that the shape of the trees finally resolved itself. “Okay, we're back at the forest...somehow – that would mean that the camp is...”

“That way,” Zapapple said as she point off to their right. “We should stay inside the forest for a while – it might give us some cover from the storm.”

“Good idea,” Daring said as she nodded before lowering her altitude until she was just above the ground and below the lowest branches. After everything that had happened, getting taken out by a tree branch would be highly anticlimactic and undignified.

Zap had been right – in among the trees, the wind died down significantly, though the howling whistle of the storm rushing through and between the trees was even louder the the howling of the wind before. A side-effect was that they were dusted almost constantly with a thin covering of snow as the wind cleared it off the branches high overhead.

Even with the lessened wind, the snow was piled high and the tree's close together – it made the going slow. Even in the best conditions, there were enough hidden holes, loose rocks and general underbrush to trip and sprain something over that forests were a pain to navigate. In the middle of a snow storm, the danger was multiplied drastically. So, Daring wasn't entirely surprised when Zapapple lost her footing on something concealed under the thick layer of snow and she face planted into a snowdrift that had gathered at the base of a particularly large tree. What she hadn't expected was what she felt when she helped Zapapple out of the drift. “you're freezing!”

“Not all of us can be as well insulated as your fluffy feathered rump,” Zapapple replied as she dusted the worst of the snow off. “Don't worry about it – Earth Pony, remember? We can take worse than this.”

“Maybe I should carry you...” Daring started to say. Trudging through all that snow couldn't be helping.

“Oh no,” Zapapple said as she shook her head. “I'm not letting you exhaust yourself when I'm perfectly fine walking.”

“But-” Daring started but was quickly cut off.

“Which of us has more field time?” Zapapple said as she quickly cut off her friend.

“You,” Daring replied. “but-”

“No buts!” Zapapple said as she started forward again. “Now, lets keep moving – the sooner we get to that camp the sooner both of us can get warm.”

Daring watched Zap for a moment before following after her. Zapapple was probably right – its not like she'd be able to fly very far carrying her, especially in this weather – but leaving her literally out in the cold like that still felt...wrong. The only thing to do about it was like Zapapple said – get to that camp and get warm. Well, no reason she had to be cold alone.

Zapapple looked up in shock as Daring dropped down next to her. “What the hay are you doing?”

“Walking like you,” Daring said as she shifted her hooves in the snow a little. “No reason for you to be down here alone.”

“There's plenty of reason!” Zapapple replied as she tried to push Daring skyward again. “Starting with the fact that you have wings! I told you – I'm an Earth Pony. I'll live. Your skinny pegasus rear, however, will be a popsicle before we clear the trees.”

“I'm not leaving you alone!” Daring said with a stomp of her hoof. The thick layer of snow made it decidedly less dramatic then she would have liked.

“You aren't,” Zapapple replied, pointing a hoof overhead. “You're flyin' above me – not ditching me. Now stop being so darn silly and get your behind back in the air.”

Daring stared at Zapapple for a moment before taking wing again with a sigh and a small 'fine'. Daring found herself glancing at her friend as they set off again. Zapapple was probably right.

That didn't mean Daring had to like it though.

The two trudged on in silence after that, neither having much to say – speaking just meant breathing more of the freezing air anyway. Luckily for them, soon a familiar looking stone outcropping started to emerge from the blanket of white ahead. “Oh, thank Celestia...” Zapapple muttered as her pace sped up. “Come on – the camp isn't far!”

“Hey, wait!” Daring shouted, but Zapapple wasn't listening to her and vanished around a clump of trees. Daring poured on a burst a speed to catch up with her friend, and was caught off-guard when she found Zapapple still standing at the edge of the forest. “Woah – you trying to get me to crash into you? What are you...” Daring trailed off as she finally noticed what Zapapple was staring at.

The field that had once help the old expedition camp – the field that they had put their own camp on the edge of – was now nothing more then a field of white. Only a few tent poles, pulled loose from their anchorings and now jutting out of the snow like stunted trees, were left to mark what had once been the site of a veritable tent village. “its all...its just...”

“It's gone.” Zapapple said. “It's all gone.” And Equestria was going to end up just like it, Daring thought, if they couldn't do something to stop it. But what could they do when all of their best leads were under who knows how much snow and they were left to freeze their hooves off?

“Come on,” Daring replied as she looked around, “Our camp was on higher ground, wasn't it? Maybe we can still get to that...”

Zapapple stared at the field for another moment before nodding. “Right. Hopefully it wasn't under too much snow...” In fact, their campsite was in an even better state then they could have hoped – the terrain and the tree's had shielded it from the worst of the blizzard, and once they dragged their packs out of the snow and back into the tree-line the wind was almost bearable.

Zapapple mumbled a quick thank-you to Celestia before the pair started digging through their packs for sleeping bags and, crucially, some matches. A lightning bolt might have done the trick, but Daring didn't think she could manage to keep a cloud coherent enough in the middle of a wild storm as big as this one. It was, after that, short work to get their small camp set up and a fire arranged.

'Arranged' Daring thought, instead of 'lit', since every piece of kindling they could find was damp from the snow and as a result, no matter what they tried, the wood refused to take light. Daring gave up trying after wasting nearly half of their matches in absolute futility. “So, what were you saying about a fire?”

“Shut it,” Zapapple growled as she picked through the pile of kindling, setting a few aside before she dug out a utility knife. “So, any ideas on how to not freeze to death?”

“Uh...” Daring looked around for a moment before turning to her friend with a shrug. “...igloo?”

Zapapple shrugged as she started shaving the bark off of her collection of sticks. “Worth a shot – You start on that while I try and make some dry kindling. Hopefully we can get warm and out of the wind soon enough...”

The did their work in silence, focusing their energy into getting warm sooner. Unfortunately, neither of them was having much luck. The snow wasn't cooperating with Daring and after an hour she gave up with nothing to show for her efforts but a pile of semi-melted snow. “You know, I think I'm supposed to have a mold for this for sort of thing...”

“Hey,” Zapapple replied as tossed another twig into the pile she was building. “the igloo was your idea.” she sighed as she set her knife aside. “So, this is going to take forever at this rate.”

“Tell me about it,” Daring said with a nod before she turned to her friend with a grin. “Want to go check out that camp now?”

“You do realize that we'd have to get this all sorted out when we get back, right?” Zapapple replied as she waved a hoof around at their half-finished camp.

“Yeah,” Daring replied. “But come on! They probably have maps of the whole castle and this time we don't have to worry about getting jumped by angry griffons!” Daring clapped her hooves together excitedly. “The layout of an entire pre-classical fortress! Can you imagine the possibilities?”

“I can imagine that digging through all of that snow will be a royal pain.” Zapapple replied. “You do realize that the camp is buried under goddess knows how much snow, right?”

“please,” Daring replied nonchalantly. “We can see some of the tent poles through the snow. That puts the depth at two meters tops.” She paused before adding “maybe three.”

Zapapple blinked. “...okay. Do you have any idea where to dig?”

“Tent poles,” Daring replied as she started digging through their packs. “Duh. Did we bring any shovels?”

“Technically,” Zapapple pointed out as Daring pulled out a small folding shovel with a muffled 'aha!', “we should set up a grid and work our way through methodically.”

“Too boring,” Daring replied with a shrug as she trotted past her friend toward the nearest flag pole. “I'm just going to start digging and see what I find.”

“And how are you going to keep the hole from collapsing?” Zapapple asked as she followed Daring. “That snow wasn't packing too well for you when you were trying to make bricks – what makes you think a hole will do?”

“Well, I'll make it down to something eventually, right?” Daring replied as she stopped next to the thin wooden strut that had once held up the canvas roof of one of the tents and began unfolding the shovel. She fought with it for a moment before the blade flipped out and locked into place with a small 'click'. “There we go...” Daring said as started digging.

“You going to do that on your own?” Zapapple asked.

“If you want to help, be my guest,” Daring replied as dug. She bit back a curse as a gust sent a flurry of snow to fill in what little progress she had made. “You could keep watch or something – make sure those Raptorian guys don't sneak up on us.”

Zapapple took a quick look around. “Daring, they could walk within fifty paces of us and probably not see us in this weather.”

“Well, I'll be sure to tell them that if they catch us.” Daring replied as she kept digging.

“Yeah, yeah – I get the...” Zapapple paused mid-reply as her ears pivoted around, followed by the rest of her head. “...do you hear that?”

Daring paused in her digging as she tried to hear what her friend was talking about. “Sounds like...hoofsteps?”

“Its a little off, I think.” Zapapple replied. “doesn't sound like griffon's either. Coming from the wrong direction too...” Their speculation ended as the angled silhouettes of a trio of timberwolves resolved from the haze of white. The dusting of snow over them turned their usual brown wooden bodies into a dirty white, but nothing would conceal the green flow of their eyes or the bared teeth as they slowly stalked toward the two ponies.

“I almost wish it was griffons,” Daring deadpanned as the pair slowly back-stepped.

“The day is young,” Zapapple replied dryly. “Go, I can hold them off.”

Daring stared at her for a moment and laughed. “Not a chance – I might be new to this field stuff, but I'm not leaving you to fight three timberwolves all alone.”

“Our funeral,” Zapapple replied with a shrug. “Just don't blame me when this all goes to the moon.”

“Well, aren't you cheerful,” Daring said back with a frown. “You could be at least a little positive.”

“What?” Zapapple replied, “and miss my last chance of being right?”

At this point, the timberwolves stopped advancing for a moment and two of them exchanged confused looks. Usually the squishy colorful things were louder and more screamy when they saw them. The relative calm of this pair was somewhat odd – and the fact that the flying one was still at a convenient biting height was even weirder. After a moment, the pair just turned to the third wolf, who just rolled his eyes before nodding toward the pair of ponies. The message was clear enough – just eat them already.

The other two didn't need any further instruction. With a pair of howls, they bounded toward Daring and Zapapple. Fangs bared.

Daring shot skyward as Zapapple dodged to the side, and the wolf ended up with nothing but a muzzle full of snow for its trouble.
It quickly found itself with a second muzzle full when its friend used him for a launching board as it made for a snap at Daring. Daring gave her wings another quick pump and managed to avoid the snapping teeth, letting the timberwolf's arc carry it back into the snow where it rolled over once before rolling back onto its feet.

While Daring was dodging one, the other was making what professor Storm Talon generally called 'poor bucking life choices'. It took a few bounding strides to build up momentum before leaping at Zapapple again. Unfortunately for it, those few strides gave Zapapple enough time to turn around and brace before snapping out with both rear legs. Two solid earth pony hooves met timberwolf jaw mid-leap with enough force to not only snap it off, but send it crashing backward hard enough to take out one of the front legs.

The broken timberwolf flew backward and crashed into the snow with a small yelp and a whimper, but its broken state would not last for long – thin wisps of the magic that held together its being were already snaking out and pulling the disconnected bits back toward the main body. Zapapple didn't get a chance to enjoy the respite, no matter how brief it might have been, as the third timberwolf that had been waiting in the wings decided at that moment that it was time to join the fray.

Daring barely had time to shout out a quick warning before the arborian carnivore was on Zapapple. Zapapple landed on her back, hooves desperately pushing back the wolf as its jaws snapped inches from her face. Her entire view was filled with a blur of flashing thorn-like teeth and sickly green glowing eyes. “Daring!”

“Hold on!” Daring cried back as she dodged another lunge from the pair below her. The pair had given up trying to reach her has she hovered, but stayed below her no matter what she tried. Her first dive toward Zap was cut short as she dodged a lunge that would have nicely removed a hoof. “I can't get close!”

“Try harder!” Zapapple yelled back. One of her hooves was jammed up under the wolf's jaw, desperately trying to keep it away from her throat. “I don't know how long I can hold this!”

Well, at least the other two are focused on me, Daring thought. The two timberwolves had all of their attention directed at her – in fact, Daring realized slowly, they seemed very focused on her. “I have an idea!”

“What sort of-”Zapapple said as she glanced toward her friend, only to see her shooting off away from her at low altitude and high speed, the two wolves in close pursuit. “Daring!”

Daring was almost out of the earth pony's sight when she made a sharp turn left. Underneath her, the wolves kept their gaze aimed skyward at her as she took another turn. “Thats right – follow the pegasus...” She took another sharp turn before slowly arcing her way back toward Zapapple. Daring risked a quick glance at her friend. The combined weight of her and the timberwolf pinning her had sunk her into the snow, leaving only her hooves fighting against the wolf to show she was really there. “Zapapple, keep it distracted!”

“Not likely to be a bloody problem!” Zap yelled back as she tilted her head back in an attempt to but a little more distance between her throat and the jaws that wanted to rip it out. “What are you-”

Her sentence was cut off as she saw a tan blur pass overhead, followed closely by what sounded like a lumberyard collapsing as the two timberwolves chasing Daring crashed into the one that had been pinning Zapapple. One of its paws remained with Zap as the rest of it was carried along in a tangled mass along with its friends, shedding twigs as it rolled and crashed along.

Zapapple was breathing heavily as she slowly sat up, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead as she glanced at the mass of wood that was slowly pulling itself together. “Good – huff – plan, Daring.”

There was a small poof of snow as Daring unceremoniously crashed down next to Zapapple. “Thanks, but I don't think I can do that again.” Both mares were breathing heavily as they glanced back toward their now partially reassembled enemies. “Should would be nice if we had some fire, right now...”

Zapapple glared at Daring for a moment. “Can't you summon lightning?” Daring's mouth snapped shut and Zap smirked. “Thought so – now get ready for round two.” the earth pony climbed back to her feet as she kept her eyes on her enemies as they put themselves back together. “Think we should hit them while they're down?”

“Very unsportmare-like,” Daring replied as she got back to her hooves, dusting off some of the snow. “lets do it.” The two mares shared a quick nod before both charged at the timberwolves. Daring came in high and Zapapple came in low, and one wolf somehow managed to yelp despite missing its lower jaw as two speeding masses of pony crashed into them hooves-first. Two of the wolves managed to get out of the way, but the one that was unfortunately missing its two left legs had no such luck.

Zapapple's first buck sent its head flying clear off into the blizzard, vanishing into the persistent haze of snow fall. Daring hit it a split-second afterward, displacing its torso from its two remaining legs as it splintered.

Sensing that one of their own was now down for the long haul, the two remaining ones kept their distance from the two ponies. Now lacking surprise or superior numbers, neither was willing to make the first move.

“Why aren't they backing off?” Daring whispered to Zapapple as they stared down the two timberwolves. “We no longer seems like soft targets - they should be backing off at this point.”

“Maybe they can't?” Zapapple suggested. “Its not like we can go anywhere at the moment, after all.”

“But they aren't-” Daring started before a piercing, shrieking howl. The two wolves hunched low, ears pinned back as they glanced around quickly. They didn't wait for the howl to die away as they rushed over to what was left of their comrade, one grabbing onto its torso by a branch while the other collected the legs. The one with the legs shot Daring and Zapapple one last glance, growling at them before running off and vanishing along with its friend into the snow storm.

Daring and Zapapple just stood there for a moment before Zapapple finally said “okay – what just happened?” Before Daring could reply, another piercing howl cut through the air as something seemed to part the snow ahead of them. Daring found herself squinting at the strange change in the otherwise uniform sheet of white around them, watching the falling snow swirl into strange patterns under the influence of an unseen force. It was almost like...

Daring's eye's shot wide as she realized what it was. “Move!” Zapapple didn't have time to reply as Daring grabbed her and yanked her off her hooves. The pair once again found themselves buried in a snow drift as the curtain of white finally parted.
It would have been a stampede if their had been any actual mass to the hooves to the creatures storming past. Spectral hooves sent ice spiderwebbing across the ground wherever they touched, compacted snow taking on a glassy sheen. Flaring nostrils sent out plumes of ice crystals, a curling mist that parted as the herd sped through it.

Zapapple could only stare in shock as the pack of Windigo's sped past to parts unknown. “Where did they all come from...?”
“The castle,” Daring said back as she watched the spectral wall of ice spirits continue past. “The spear was holding them back.”

“But that many?” Zap replied as she turned to her friend.

“Well, they nearly ended the world once,” Daring replied. “can't do that with just three of them.”

After another minute, the stampede finally started to die down. Daring hadn't even tried to keep count of all of them, but if she had to guess its was dozens, maybe hundreds. She found herself mentally revising her estimation of how long Equestria had. She wasn't liking what she was coming up with. Zapapple summed things up quite succinctly. “We're doomed.”

“Don't say that!” Daring shot back. “We still have a chance to stop this, don't we? We just have to find something in the camp...”

“Then we better get down there fast,” Zapapple replied. “Since I don't think Equestria has as much time as we thought.”

Daring gulped. “R-right, no pressure.” The two quickly went back to their digging their hole, which due to the passing of the Windigos didn't collapse in on itself as they descended. “Guess they were good for something, at least.”

“'We help our own destruction', right?” Zapapple replied as she chipped away another layer of compacted snow.

“The line is 'we sow the seeds of our own demise', Zap.” Daring corrected, punctuating the statement as she brought her shovel down again.
Zapapple shrugged. “Same-difference.”

Luckily for them, the snow wasn't as deep as either of them feared. Unfortunately, it seemed that those tents had been way sturdier then the had expected.

The sound of heavy canvas tearing was the only warning either of them had as the shovel cut through something that was most certainly not ice. They had just enough time to turn to each other before the ground gave out underneath them.

Zapapple hit the ground first and, though her flailing was enough to slow her down slightly, a two meter fall was not enough time for a pegasus to actually remember how to fly. Zapapple had barely gotten her bearings again when a mass of tan fur and feathers crashed into her.

The two mares just sat there in a tangle for a moment before Zapapple finally spoke up. “Daring?”

There was a brief pause before Daring replied. “Yeah, Zap?”

“Get off.”

Daring pulled herself off her blue friend, flopping onto her back next to Zapapple with a groan. “Zap? I take it back – this field stuff is horrible and I want to go home.”

“After this,” Zapapple groaned, “I might just pick up lab work.”

Daring cracked an eye open and looked at her friend. “Really?”

“Nah,” Zap replied. “just sayin' stuff. You alright?”

“I landed on you,” Daring replied. “How about you?”

“I'll live.” Zap replied as she pulled herself back onto her hooves and looked around. The canvas was ripped in several places, letting faint pale blue light that filtered through the snow and ice leak through along with the bright circle that marked where they had fallen in. The same hole was letting though a gentle breeze that made combined with the weight of the ice overhead to make the entire structure groan ominously. “Are you sure this will hold?”

“It hasn't collapsed yet, has it?” Daring replied as she paced around the tent. They seemed to have lucked out – it seemed that they had dropped into the middle of one of the larger tents, and based on the tables and effects scattered across them it seemed like it was either a main lab or some sort of field archive. Their weren't any proper bookcases, but there were plenty of books – Daring suspected that their might have been an airship or at least a few wagons buried somewhere nearby. Scattered among the tables were crates, lids open to reveal the straw packing inside along with whatever item the straw was protecting. “besides, this looks promising.”

“And lethal,” Zapapple replied. “You sure about this?”

Daring, however, was already digging through the nearest crate. “Zap! Take a look at this – they recovered pieces from one of the castle murals!” Zapapple sighed as she watched the pegasus drag the piece out of its crate and over to a table, blowing a dusting of snow off an arm-mounted magnifier before pulling it over the piece and examining the chunk of mural. “This is amazing – some of the writing on this is minuscule. And it doesn't match the script on the mural – this could be an undocumented dialect! If I can just work out the vowels...”

Zapapple left her friend to her work as she poked around the rest of tent. She still found herself eying the straining canvas above her head, but it looked to be holding. What the hay were they made of, anyway? Whatever they were, she was glad it seemed to be ridiculously over-engineered. For now, she decided to see if there was anything in the personal notes laying around.

With little method in mind, Zapapple just walked up to the nearest table, pulled over a book and flipped it open. She gave a small snort.

“Figures...” It was somepony's notes, alright, but either their mouth script was terrible or they were on way too much coffee to keep their telekinesis stable because its was pretty much unreadable. She pushed the notebook aside and pulled another one closer. She really hoped this wasn't sompony's personal desk, otherwise all of the notes would be useless.

Luckily, it was either a common desk or somepony had brought an assistant all the way out here because the first page she flipped to was filled with neat, compact writing. She didn't see a date, just a heading indicating some sort of lot or batch number, followed by a list of objects and notes about them. In all, it looked like a fairly standard field log of artifacts – the sort you put together after you got the worst of the dirt off of the finds, but hadn't had enough time to do more than eyeball it all. She quickly settled into a more comfortable position as she started scanning over the pages. Maybe, just maybe, they had found a way to undo all of this.

She didn't get more then a few pages in though before Daring suddenly spoke up. “Wait a minute...Zap! I think I found something!”

“So do I,” Zapapple replied as she walked over, the notebook still held in one hoof. “Wanna compare notes?”

“Sure,” Daring scooted over to make room for her friend, waiting for Zap to settle the book onto the table before pulling her over. “Take a look at this part – it was mixed in with the rest of the script, but I can actually read this part. It talks about some sort of key or something – I think the rest of script might be part of a ritual or something...”

“Well, that sounds about right,” Zapapple replied as she pulled the notebook over. “A few of the entries in the log mention a 'key room' of some sort – probably the same thing.”

“If its some sort of control room, then it could be a way to turn this all around.” Daring turned to Zapapple. “We should at least go take a look.”

“Agreed,” Zapapple nodded. “I'll stay here and get camp set up while you zip over and-”

“What!?” Daring cut Zapapple off. “No – we stick together.”

“Daring, I'm freezing,” Zapapple replied, “And I do not want trek through that snow again – you can fly over the worst of it, and you can move a lot faster if you don't have to keep pace with me.”

“But-” Daring started, but Zapapple held up a hoof to silence her.

“Go,” Zapapple gave Daring a comforting smile. “"I'll have the fire going when you return."

Next Chapter: Chapter 10 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 4 Minutes
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