Daring’s perspective:

So last night had been another romance stopper. As we once again got very close, we once again were stopped from fully expressing ourselves. Well at least this time thousands of ponies didn’t die.

It was now 6:30am, we had slept the rest of the night peacefully but without any sort of romance. I guess the whole map thing really killed it for both of us. I pray that we didn’t have to go to the mines today… I don’t know if I could or not.

I had John’s forelegs wrapped around me with no sense of embarrassment like the times before. He breathed peacefully and I felt his heart beating slowly through his chest. His body heat warmed my body and made me feel safe. Like nothing in the world could go wrong.

We had wanted to get an early start on things but for now I just wanted to be in the embrace of the one I loved. I rolled over and nuzzled into John before relaxing and taking a quick nap.

“Daring… Daring… hun, wake up.” John whispered and I groaned tiredly as I opened my eyes. He smiled as his brown eyes seemed to gleam. For some reason he seemed really dreamy, like the kind of stallion mares fantasize about when they’re young fillies.

I leaned forwards and softly pressed my lips against his. We shared a brief kiss before I leaned back. “I love you John… I don’t want to ever lose you.” I told him and he nodded then smiled.

“Okay… I love you too… but uhm, that was random.” He said with a chuckle and I rolled my eyes. Sometimes he was such a fool. I pulled his body towards mine and snuggled into him.

“Daring… I hate to kill this moment but… we gotta get a move on. Brixie, Billy, Elijah and Bear are already up.” He told me. I scrunched my nose, why would they be up already? It was only… I looked to the clock and realized it was 8:30. My nap had lasted a little longer than I had expected.

I stood out of bed, not wearing anything. Jeeze it kind of felt nice to not wear clothes. “Hey Daring… maybe you should just wear your shirt.” John suggested and I raised an eyebrow.

“Wanting to see a bit of fur?” I teased and he nodded then stepped over to me.

“Make you a deal… you only wear your shirt and I’ll only wear my duster.” He offered and I smiled then kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re such a flirt.” I laughed. He smiled as he put on only his duster coat and bandolier along with his black cow-pony hat. I followed suit with my olive green adventurer shirt and the brown poet hat.

We both nodded. Though I felt a little indecent, it felt rather nice to be mostly nude. It might be something I’d see to doing more often than not.

John slung his double barrel shotgun across his back and holstered all three of his pistols. I only holstered my one revolver which was more for show than actual use. We nodded to each other then entered the hallways.

Brixie raised an eyebrow but Billy spoke their thoughts. “Damn… never thought I’d see you two wear almost nothing.” Billy commented and John just shrugged as we continued down stairs and into the saloon.

“So I’m thinking that it’s time to take a trip to the Dodge Junction mines.” John stated. My heart sank as he spoke those words. But if that is where we were supposed to go to get Black Mane and the treasure then I’d have to supress my fears and move on. “We’ll be stopping at the marshal’s office first.” John stated as we stepped out of the saloon and onto the dusty streets of Dodge Junction.

As we trotted down the streets I looked around. Things were looking healthier without the Jonas gang putting fear into every-pony. Ponies were out and about, conversing with each other, trading or simply just having a stroll.

We stepped into the marshal’s office where Ray and the other three deputies sat: Rose, Carnation and Dandelion. “Howdy John… Daring, Billy, Brixie… Elijah.” Ray greeted and we all gave a nod back. “So what can I do for you this fine morning?” Ray asked and John pulled out the map.

“What’s the background with the Dodge Junction mines?” John asked and Ray looked to him with a worried face.

“Why?” He asked but then looked to the map and sighed before he had a chuckle. “Look outside… figures. The mine is just outside the map depictions… Alright John, so you have it in to do a bit of mining huh. Well back in the fifties, that mine was built in the hopes of finding gold. That’s part of the reason Dodge was built, so that the miners would have somewhere to stay. But apparently miners kept disappearing without a trace. Then a rumor was started that the place was haunted and… the mine was abandoned. It’s not safe in there but I reckon if you need to search it that I can’t really stop you. There aren’t any laws that say you can’t go exploring them. But for Celestia’s sake, be careful. That place is ready to give out any day now.” Ray informed him and John nodded.

“Thank yah Marshal. You have a dandy fine day now.” John replied then tipped his hat and we all left towards the mine. Goddess I had a bad feeling about this.

John’s perspective:

It was a fair ways trot but finally we found the entrance to the old eroded mine. It looked decrepit and there were boards planked up over the entrance with several signs reading ‘STAY OUT’ or ‘KEEP OUT!’

The writings were in red and kind of looked like it was written in blood. I scratched my head as I trotted forwards and gave a tug on one of the boards. Despite the old age and decrepit look, the boards were stuck on tight.

“Damn… well Brixie, you mind pulling the boards off with your magic?” I asked and Brixie nodded. As Brixie’s horn flared up I saw one of the boards light up, covered in an aura that matched her pale blue horn aura.

I stepped back as Brixie began to pull the boards off one by one. I noticed that Daring had a pale look on her face. I stood by her and tried to comfort her. “You don’t have to go in there you know.” I told her but she shook her head.

“No… I do have to go in there. I’ve been fearful of this place my entire life because of what happened… to Lucky. And even so, I won’t let you go in there by yourself.” Daring told me and I nodded then gave her a quick kiss.

“Just saying. I know that it must feel pretty heartbreaking to come back. Just know that I won’t think lesser of you if you stay outside.” I told her and she smiled brightly to me.

“Okay… all clear!” Brixie announced. We looked to see the dark entrance of the tunnel shaft leading into the mines.

“I uhm… I guess I’ll lead the way.” I told every-pony as I approached the cave. It was pitch black and I could barely see a thing. “Brixie… you got a light?” I asked and Brixie’s horn flared up in an illumination spell. I spotted a nearby torch and pulled it off the wall mount then looked to the others.

Elijah pulled out a small packet of matches then lit one before lighting the torch’s rags. They must’ve been doused in kerosene or some sort of slow burning liquid because they burned quite slowly. Amazing that even after all these years, the torches still burned like they were supposed to.

We began to trot down the tunnel ways of the caves in search for… whatever we were looking for. I wasn’t exactly sure yet. Daring stayed close by me while I led the way with the torch. Billy and Elijah also picked up torches. Brixie stayed behind with Bear and lit their way with her magic.

As we travelled the expanses of the tunnels we got deeper and deeper into the mine. “Jesus… this place is like a labyrinth.” I muttered. Daring pulled herself close to me and sheltered herself against my body. I could tell this was hard for her.

We neared a four way intersection. “Okay… which way do we go? I don’t like the idea of splitting up so…” I trailed off and Brixie fired a blast of magic down every pathway except the way we came. Her magic was like a flare that briefly illuminated each pathway. She pointed down the straightest path that was directly in front of us.

I nodded then we all began to travel the long path of the hallway. “Jeeze… this takes forever… what are we even…” I stopped as I heard stone grinding against stone. “What the hay is… aahhhh” I yelled as the floor beneath us slide away and into the wall. “That way!” I yelled and we tried to run back to the intersection. The whole floor was grinding away.

We would never have made it. The floor simply slid away way too fast and we fell into a funnel shaped dip. We all slid down into a black hole that led us to only goddess knows where. I accidentally dropped my torch as I slid down into the black tunnel.

“OH SHIT!” I muttered as darkness overwhelmed my body. I couldn’t see a damned thing. I heard the screams of the others as we all began to slide down this wretched hole.

“Hey every-pony, I see a light… oh shit!” I yelled as I realized that the tunnel simply ended. As the tunnel ended I started to free-fall through the dark empty air. I fell for what seemed like a very long time to be airborne. My duster coat flapped about in the air as I fell.

Finally my body slammed into the unrelenting water below in what I could only perceive to be an underground cavern.

I felt my coat soak and become heavy. I thrashed under water as I tried to surface but I had no idea which way was up. I began to panic as I felt my oxygen begin to deplete from my lungs. I began to race through possible options of what to do.

My lungs began to burn and I wanted to just open my mouth so badly to try and get a breath of air but I knew that would be the death of me. I let my body be still, to conserve oxygen as I panicked about what I was going to do. My body continued to sink… wait that’s it!

My body was sinking because of all the weight. So that must mean that the way I was sinking was down. So the opposite direction must be up. I prayed to goddess that I was right because if I wasn’t… then this would be the last mistake I ever made.

I began to thrust my forelegs. It was times like these that made me wish I had learned to swim. All I knew was the basics. I began to pedal my hindlegs in synced motions with my forelegs. My lungs began to burn even more than before. My muscles soon joined in with the burning feel from lack of fresh oxygen.

I began to groan to myself as I clenched my mouth shut, forcing myself to refuse the urge to try and breathe for air. My lungs screamed for air as my thrusts to get to the surface became erratic. I wasn’t going to make it… I just had this awful gut wrenching feeling that said I wasn’t going to make it.

Suddenly I felt my body break to the surface. I took a deep breath of air then began to gasp and wheeze for air. “JOHN! JOHN IS THAT YOU!” I heard Daring scream and soon I was illuminated by the brightness of Brixie’s illumination spell.

I began to slowly swim over to the rocky shore of the cavern. It was pretty eerie in here. There were stalagmite formations that created large icicle looking rock things at the top of the caverns. The cavern was completely enclosed from what I could tell, minus the way we came in but I couldn’t see our entrance. The bottom of the cavern was two thirds water and the rest was a smooth stone surface.

I crawled onto the rocky shoreline and continued to gasp for air. Daring rushed over to me and began to cry on my chest. “John… John this can’t be happening.” She wept and I rubbed the back of her head.

“Don’t worry kiddo… we’re all alright… right?” I asked. I looked to the others. They looked to be fine as well. It looked like they had all landed in the water as well.

I looked to Daring who returned my look but with a tear ridden face. “No John… it’s not alright.”

Author's Notes:

Hopefully I can get one more chapter out before I pass out. Gotta say that Elijah is a boss! Twin Maxim machineguns on his battle saddle. Yes Joy Stick, I was thinking of you when I made this character. I remembered back in The Desperate Trophy wife when the Delta member named Elijah died and you were like "My name is Elijah!... oh... my name is Elijah." I kind of felt bad and thought "I need to bring a smile to his face!" So I present you with this, a bad assed character that is a tough as nails war veteran but has a soft side for his canine companion. Think of it as... I dunno, something cool and kickass.
Cheers to everyone eh!