//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Daring Do and the Cloud-Held Eternity // by Trivial //------------------------------// CHAPTER 1 You’re being stupid, Daring-Do, said a tiny voice in the back of Daring’s head. The mustard-yellow pegasus told the voice to shush up as she checked everything in the balloon’s gondola. Good! Everything’s packed and secure, she thought as she tucked the inventory list into her shirt pocket, We can lift off as soon as Shifty gets back. Even though both Shifty Gaze and she were pegasi, they were travelling by balloon for two reasons: first, they were packing a lot of equipment and supplies, and second, their destination was very high up. So high that nopony would willingly fly at that altitude without a balloon or airship. While she waited for Shifty to return, Daring thought over the past few days. Less than a week ago, she was facing a long and boring summer. She was getting the reputation as something of a bad omen in the Equinology Department — whether she deserved it or not — and, as a result, none of the faculty had invited her on any expeditions over the summer. She couldn’t even count on the re-shelving job at the University Library; after what happened the week before finals, Guiding Light probably wouldn’t want to see her for a few months. With no prospect of adventure, Daring was planning on camping out at the Canterlot Public Library. That is, until she was approached by Shifty Gaze. Shifty had transferred into the Department during the last semester and was a somewhat mediocre student, although he seemed experienced in archaeological methods and research. Daring guessed that he was the son of a couple of archaeologists and followed his parents into the field as a foal. Shifty took an immediate interest in the other students, asking pointed questions about their experiences and backgrounds. Yet, he avoided giving a straight answer to any questions asked about his own life. Daring found that she didn’t like talking to him much, although she never avoided him either. True to his name, Shifty was always fidgeting or glancing from side to side, as though he was hiding something. His manner of speaking, while very proper, was in stark contrast to his demeanor. Furthermore, his cutie mark had the unfortunate form of a knife, which Daring found both odd and disturbing. Sure, he said his special talent was salad-making, but really! Something was definitely up with that pony. Days ago, the brick-red pegasus found Daring as she was leaving her apartment and offered her the opportunity to travel out into the field with him. She was prepared to refuse until he said the word “Cloudyon.” That name caught her interest: Cloudyon! The Lost City of the Pegasi, the stronghold of “Mad Commander” Hailstorm! It was a legend that fascinated all pegasi, but particularly Daring-Do. She recalled hearing the tales of the Cloud-Held Eternity, the Temple of Thunderheads, and other wonders ever since she was a filly. She had heard that her parents had always wanted to find Cloudyon’s ruins and her father's journal had even hinted that they were even planning an expedition as they were leaving to search for the Platinum Crown. She’d give her wings for a chance to go there! She wondered how Shifty knew the ancient cloud-city’s location when nopony had even come close to finding it in more than a thousand years. It turned out that Shifty not only claimed he knew where to find it, but he was planning to go there that week. He wanted to know if she would come along, because he didn’t want to go alone, and it always helped to have an experienced adventurer in such places. Now, Daring didn’t trust Shifty half as far as she could throw him, but if he was telling the truth (and, in this case, something told her he was) she wasn't going to let something like a few nagging suspicions ruin what might be the chance of a lifetime. Sure, she’d have to keep an eye (probably both) on Shifty but, after all, she’d faced nasty dinosaurs and even weirder creatures before. She should be able to handle a single pegasus, especially one who was smaller than her. Daring’s thoughts were interrupted by Shifty suddenly appearing at her side. “Is everything ready to go?” he lied. Daring’s eyes went wide, and then she relaxed again. “Yeah,” she replied, “Let’s go.” Come on, Daring, it was a question. How could he be lying a question? The tiny voice replied: You’re being stupid, Daring-Do. *** It was lunchtime before Daring decided to find out how much Shifty knew about their destination. They had left shortly after dawn and neither had spoken much during the morning. Daring spent her time preparing a new field journal, checking the compasses and equipment, and other tasks. Normally she wouldn’t be so careful, but cloud-digs were different than normal ones in two ways. First, a team working at a cloud site would have to rely only on the food and equipment that they brought with them, and they were often unable to resupply for days (archaeologists on long-term digs usually had to arrange regular deliveries). Daring had asked Shifty whether he had made such an arrangement. He replied only with a curt “Of course!” The second way that cloud expeditions were different was that, in most cases, only pegasi went on them. This meant that such a team could not count on an earth pony’s strength or unicorn’s magic to help with the dig. While the cloud-walking spell was common enough, it didn’t last long enough when cast on a living being to be feasible. Nopony wanted to risk the spell running out while stuck somewhere they could not escape (and thousands of feet above the ground). Much of the equipment also had to be enchanted so that it wouldn’t fall through the clouds. Shifty had spent the morning deep in thought, only interrupting his meditation to ask Daring to change course or give some other small instruction. Daring looked again at the small red pegasus with the olive mane. She was certain he was planning something, but couldn't guess what. She was glad that she had taken the time to write Darrin to let him know what she was doing. "So, you're certain that you know where Cloudyon is?" Daring asked as she chewed on a lettuce leaf. Whether she believed his explanation about his cutie mark or not, Shifty did make a mean salad. “Yes,” Shifty replied peevishly, “I believe that I mentioned that I was there before.” Daring hadn’t thought much of Shifty’s story when he told it to her. According to him, he had been to Cloudyon as part of a survey expedition sponsored by the University of Trottingham. He had apparently done all of the work while the professionals lounged about, doing nothing. The survey ended when funding ran out and the University was still analyzing the results, which was why they weren't published yet. After thinking about it for a while, Daring decided to reject the entire tale out-of-hoof, except for the idea that Shifty had actually been to Cloudyon. The few descriptions that he bothered to share were too detailed for him to have made up: so, unless this was an incredibly elaborate and stupid prank, she would have to accept that Shifty had found the lost city. Of course, if it was an elaborate and stupid prank, well, it wouldn’t be pleasant for the smaller pegasus. Daring rolled her eyes, “Yeah… So anyway, what can you tell me about it?” Shifty stared at her for a moment and then said, “I’m not sure how many of the legends you’re familiar with, so I’ll start at the beginning.” This earned another eye-roll, “I’m not a little filly, y’know. I know the legends.” “Do you want to hear what I have to say, or not?” Shifty asked, glaring at the adventurer. Daring grunted, but motioned for the other pegasus to continue. “The legends are important. Many of them are true. I just want to make sure you know everything so we don’t run into any trouble.” Daring interrupted again with a snort, “If you don’t want to run into trouble, then you’ve picked the wrong pegasus. I always seem to run into trouble.” “Are you done? May I continue?” Shifty chided. Shifty received Daring’s answering glare with a smirk and continued speaking, “As I was saying, as you are coming with me I assume that you do not believe any of the more childish legends concerning Cloudyon, such as 'great misfortune befalls all visitors,' or 'Cloudyon can only be found by those who know where it is,' or any other rubbish such as that. “Of the legends that aren’t patently absurd,” the red peagsus continued, “three are of particular interest: the Cloud-Held Eternity, the Grand Armory of the Pegasi, and Hailstorm’s Rebellion. The Cloud-Held Eternity is a mythical well that, when filled with pure rainwater, will make anypony submerged in the water young again. Now, the tale is so fantastic that most archaeologists do not believe such a thing ever existed. I think, however, that it may indeed have existed and I might even know where it was kept.” Daring’s ears pricked up. “Wait, are you saying that you’ve found the Eternity?!” Shifty looked back, “No, I just said that I might have learned where it was, if it existed. Even if it did, I doubt that it would still be there now.” Daring deflated a little, “Oh.” “Moving on, the Grand Armory was said to hold the greatest and most terrible weapons created by the Ancient Pegasi. It is said that the Commanders used to threaten the unicorns and earth ponies with the contents of the Armory and that this prevented many wars that would have been fought otherwise. Now, the Armory probably never really existed. If it had, I’m sure that Hailstorm would have used the weapons inside to support his uprising. “This brings me to Hailstorm’s Rebellion, which is really more historical fact than legend. Captain Hailstorm, upset at Commander Hurricane’s declaration of peace with the unicorn and earth pony tribes, pronounced himself Commander of All Pegasi and declared war on Equestria. This war lasted about seven months before Hurricane smashed through Cloudyon’s defenses and captured Hailstorm. Hailstorm was stripped of his rank and duties, and was forbidden to return to Cloudyon or associate with his former military units, but was officially forgiven and set free. Cloudyon itself was abandoned when the pegasi decided to live closer to the other ponies.” Daring sighed and flicked her black-and-gray tail, “Now that you’ve gone over what everypony already knows, what can you tell me about Cloudyon? I mean, like, how it is now?” Shifty looked around for a moment, searching the sky. “You’ll be seeing it for yourself shortly. Look.” He pointed his hoof out and upwards. Unfortunately, it was also towards the sun. Daring squinted and thought she could just make out a dark string of clouds set against Celestia’s charge. “That’s Cloudyon, huh?” Daring asked a touch skeptically, as she blinked the spots from her eyes. Daring looked back at Shifty and found him smirking again. She swore that he seemed to enjoy making her look into the sun. “It is indeed,” Shifty returned, “We’ll be there within the hour.”