The air whipped through her grayish hair. Daring's wings propelled her forward at thundering speeds. Her torn jacket flapped in the breeze, and her helmet was pressed back. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself harder, and the trees zoomed past in a blur of green and brown.
"We're going to drop this one off and keep him down inside the sub," Gwindor said over the radio. Trenchoof was in the back of the truck, which was ahead of the tank in the small convoy.
"Gwindor, sir, there ist... Daring ist behind us!" a voice said over the radio from the Tank. In the convoy, there was a tank in the back, a truck, and another truck ahead of that. Needless to say, Gwindor was enraged.
"How is she not dead?!" he growled, "Ugh... finish her off!"
The tank gunner switched over to using the lighter weapons mounted on the top of the tank. He emerged, white feathered head standing out from the greenish paintjob of the machine. He grabbed ahold of the machine gun, and swivelled back to face the oncoming target. The soldier paused for a moment, confused. Daring was not anywhere in sight. He narrowed his eyes, looking carefully for her to emerge somewhere. As soon as she was within vision, he would...
A sudden kick to the throat took the gunner out of action immediately. He fell back down into the tank, gargling and foaming at the beak. Daring landed on top of the moving vehicle, waiting. Another gryphon stuck his head out, and she kicked quickly. She missed, and her hoof merely glanced off the top of his helmet. It was enough to get the gryphon to wise up, and he went back down into the tank, closing the hatch.
The tank swerved beneath Daring, making a zig-zag down the path cut through the forest. The sudden movement change threw her off balance, and she felt herself sliding one way, before siding back the other way once again. Daring gritted her teeth, and hung on as tightly as she could. In another attempt to shake her off, the tank stopped suddenly. Daring felt herself sliding, and tumble off from the top of the machine's turret. She was whipped by low hanging vines, but she managed to keep on the vehicle by wrapping her hooves around the barrel of the cannon.
The hatch opened once more, and this time a gryphon emerged with a small gun clutched in his talons. He leveled the pistol so that it was pointing towards Daring. The bullet fired, but it only glanced off the metal of the cannon as Daring took off with a grayish streak. The gryphon swore, and tried to follow her with his gun, but he had lost sight of the pony. A sharp pain to the back of the skull was the last thing he would have remembered feeling before blacking out, as a kick to the un-helmeted head was enough to render him unconscious. As Daring moved the limp soldier aside and descended through the hatch, she was met with a not-so-friendly reception committee.
The tank swerved and sped up as the insides were turned upside down by the brawl occuring within it. The motions were erratic at best, and at times even chaotic. Inside the tank, Daring found herself in a tough fight. Clawed arms flailed, and her hooves struck out at almost anything she could hit. There were three other gryhpons in the tank with her, attempting to take her out, but one by one they succumbed to repeated strikes.
Daring pushed the limp form of the gryphon who had been driving the tank out of the way, and slid into the seat. She furrowed her eyebrows, and focused on the controls. It was very different from anything she has seen before, consisting mostly of levers and switches. One would turn it one way, and another lever would turn it the other. The third controlled forward velocity. This lever was the one that Daring slammed up. The engine began roaring, and the tank jolted forwards with a new burst of speed. It thundered down the path with an intense fury, crashing into the truck ahead of it and causing it to rollover and crash. The truck should have blocked the way and kept the vehicle behind it from passing because of the way it lay across the path, but the tank ran right over the broken truck, crushing the wood and the metal beneath it. Soldiers dashed out of the way to avoid getting crushed under the treads.
The path swerved ahead, and Daring threw the switch to turn the tank. It responded, and it continued to follow the remaining truck.
"Don't want to hit that one- Trenchoof's in there," mumbled Daring, biting her lower lip. Likely the leader of the group, Gwindor, and the traitor were as well. The path ahead was widening, and Daring could see the truck making a sharp right turn. The path was quickly coming to an end, and ahead was the river- and a submarine waiting for her.
Daring realized with a start that she was headed straight for the river. There was little space to turn, and the tank was already travelling at an intense speed. She threw the lever as much as she could, praying that it would be enough to get the machine to remain on land. The vehicle swerved, and with a sinking feeling Daring felt it pitch to one side, careening off the dock and right into the muddy waters of the river. Through the hatches and the sights water began pouring in. Daring's entire world flipped on her as the tank rolled underwater, and the hatch to get out was now submerged inside the vehicle, with the floor above her head.
The tank was rapidly filling with water. The amount of space that was breathable air was rapidly disappearing, and Daring knew that she needed to get out of there. Now.
Taking a deep gasp of breath, Daring dove down, grasping the handles on the hatch and pulling. It required a lot of pressure, but it did pop open, exposing the murky bottom to Daring. The pony quickly forced herself through the hole, and out into the river's water.
****
"Well, so much for the heroic Daring Do," said Gwindor, shaking his head. Soldiers from the remaining truck had grabbed Trenchoof, and were dragging him towards the dock, while Elise got out of the other side.
"You're not going to get away with this!" barked Trenchoof, "Just wait until word gets back home about this!"
"Oh, but I will!" replied Gwindor, removing his cap and stroking the white feathers atop his head.
"You see, the arrangements have been made already. The report on the accident will reach Equestria this evening. With any luck, your obituaries will be in tomorrow's papers."
"You son of a -"
"That will be all, thank you. Lock him up below decks!" Gwindor commanded. His soldiers saluted with a quick raise of their arms, while firmly grasping Trenchoof with their free claws. The stallion was dragged along the planks of the dock, towards the waiting submarine. Gwindor followed, standing on the deck of the ship and looking down into the murky waters. He couldn't see any more bubbles rising from the tank. Daring must have drowned.
Elise smirked, and passed by the others, heading down below the deck of the sub.
"One moment, please," Gwindor said to his soldiers. He looked at Trenchoof, smiling.
"It looks as if Daring has drowned," he gloated, motioning to where the tank was still submerged, "What do you think about that? Was it so long ago that you were fully convinced that she would get help, hm? And now where is she- ah yes, she is sitting inside a tank at the bottom of a river, dead. Soon to become food for the piranhas."
Trenchoof glanced at the water, and noticed a small trail of bubbles moving towards the side of the sub. He kept his mouth shut and simply looked back to Gwindor, snarling.
"That's what I thought. Now, as I was saying-"
SMACK!
A hoof struck Gwindor in the side of the head, and he wheeled around, intending to rake the aggressor with his claws. He struck thin air, and missed. Meanwhile, Daring had landed in front of him, a short distance away.
"Let him go, Gwindor!" Daring shouted, blocking a swipe from the head gryphon. He was obviously infuriated.
"Never!" he shouted back, rearing up and lashing out with raised Talons. Daring yelped as she was struck, blood running down her leg. Some of it was dripping into the water.
"Hurt?" sneered Gwindor, before attempting another swipe with his other clawed arm. Daring was ready for this, however, and came up with a block and a counter strike that hit the gryphon's chest. Gwindor was sent backwards, his hat falling off his head and dropping down into the water, now churning with excited piranhas that had smelled the spilled blood. In seconds the hat was reduced to shreds by the churning mass.
Gwindor yelled loudly, charging Daring. Daring braced herself, but was thrown backwards by the blow, landing on her back on the edge of the sub's deck. Gwindor rushed, and pinned her down with his front talons.
"I... have had... enough of you...." he gasped, his breaths coming in short wheezes. Daring gritted her teeth, even as she felt the strong gryphon trying to press down and crush her windpipe. She struggled and squirmed, trying to break free of the choke hold.
She struck upwards with her back hooves, kicking Gwindor's leg and sending the gryphon toppling over. Daring gasped for a fresh lungful of air, and then spun back up onto all fours. Gwindor attempted to stand, but Daring struck again, and again, and again. Each time the gryphon collapsed, until he could stand up again no longer. He stretched his wings and tried to fly up, but his energy had left him. Gwindor fell, defeated, into the churning mass of carnivorous fish. Daring averted her eyes as she heard the horrendous screams, and the gargling struggles.
She turned to see Trenchoof in a fight of his own, battling off two different gryphons that had been holding him captive. Daring galloped over, slamming into a gryphon that was attempting to get himself behind Trenchoof and grab him. Daring and this gryphon fell down on the deck, with Daring on top. The pony raised her front hooves, punching repeatedly until the aggressor was subdued. She left him there on the deck.
Trenchoof stood up, recovering from his own fight, and wiped his face off. He glanced to Daring, making a nodding gesture. Daring returned it.
"Good work. I've got to say, none of this has gone well at ALL," Trenchoof said, "I was hoping that the dig could have proceeded on schedule. It's too bad about Elise... a terrible shame. I guess she's among the gryphon ranks now. What happened to you? You alright?"
"I'm fine," Daring replied, "for me it's just the same as it always is: another day, another dungeon."
The two ponies together got off from the gryphon sub, and proceeded to flee into the forests. It was several hours until a passing ship went by that was willing to pick them up, and even though they were leaving like this, only two out of the entire expedition, Daring knew that this was not the end. They'd get reinforcements to free anypony else still held captive, and she knew where Zenith was now. As the boat the two shared with a fishing crew chugged down the river, Daring felt the exhaustion hit her. She stretched out in the warmness of the setting sun, moved her pith helmet's brim down over her eyes, and began to sleep.
