//------------------------------// // Enigma of the Everfree Expedition Part One: The Zebra in the Library // Story: Daring Do: Shadows Over Equestria // by PonyJosiah13 //------------------------------// “Come on, Uncle Ad!” Daring Do declared, pressing through the foot-deep layer of snow, weaving in between the shivering trees that stretched up towards the distant, twinkling stars across the twilight sky, peeking through small gaps in the canopy cover. The biting winter wind assailed every gap in her thick winter apparel that it could find, but the heat of adrenaline and excitement banished the cold. “Slow down, my dear,” Gallant True called from behind her, grinning through the heavy pants that made his breath frost before them, his scarf flapping in the wind. “That cave isn’t going to be going anywhere.” “I’m trying to get there before your bones freeze, old stallion!” Daring shot a grin back at him, using a wing to brush condensation from the goggles over her eyes. “Oh, you whippersnapper!” Uncle Ad grinned back, picking up the pace through the snow. Laughing, Daring galloped across the taiga, the white powder crunching beneath her boots. The wind stung at her exposed cheeks, pushing against her chest as if trying to ward her away, but she ignored it, pressing on. She wound around a corner and the low mountain appeared before her, rocky, snow-blanketed slopes topped with coniferous trees rising up above the ground. The cave’s mouth appeared before her like a dark maw, waiting to swallow her whole. “There!” Daring declared, striding forward. Something crunched beneath her hoof. She looked down and gasped. Yellowed bones lay before her like a grotesque carpet, exposed by the wind. Ribs and leg bones jutted out of the frost like sticks; skulls stared up at her with their empty eye sockets. The wind screamed through the open jawbones. An unnatural light of an unnameable color nearly blinded her. The idol of the Ahuizotl was glowing from the cave, as though a fire burned within the dark stone. The eyes shone, disturbingly lifelike, fixed directly upon her. “Uncle Ad?” Daring asked, slowly stepping back. “Uncle Ad, we need to go—” She turned around and nearly screamed, her stomach dropping into her gut. Uncle Ad was standing behind her, swaying in place; his eyes glowed in his blank face, the same unnatural color as the idol, scalding her with his gaze. Behind him stretched a huge shadow, blue fur bedecked in gold jewelry, saliva dripping from the mocking smile. The beast seemed to sleep, shifting and stirring dreamily; the long tail with the paw on the end curled possessively around her uncle. “Micca…Ahuizotl…chixtoc…temiqui,” Gallant True rasped out, his voice sounding like wind being forced through a dry, narrow tunnel. The wind grew to a terrible howl. Daring turned to see the shadowy things lunging out of the cave, rushing at her. She spread her wings to take off, but they were on her in a heartbeat, claws of ice digging into her. “No! No! Help me!” Daring screamed, reaching out to her uncle. But Uncle Ad just stared at her dispassionately, vague ghosts of sadness, angern and blame flickering briefly across his face, the still-glowing eyes burning down at her. “It’s your fault,” he spoke in a venomous hiss. Behind her, the monster let out a low, satisfied growl, smiling in its slumber and pulling Gallant True towards him. The snow became as viscous as quicksand as the laughing monsters pulled her down. Daring screamed and screamed, struggling for all she was worth, but it was all for naught as she was pulled down and down… “Professor Do?” Daring Do woke up with a gasp, slapping away the hoof shaking her shoulder and winding up to strike her attacker. “Hey, easy, easy! It’s me!” Twilight cried, flinching away from the blow. Daring Do froze as her mind began to catch up to her body. Heart thumping in her throat, she slowly looked around and realized that everyone else in the library’s reading room was staring at her, their expressions a blend of surprise and concern. Daring Do sighed and slowly sat back down in the chair, mopping her sweaty face. “I’m sorry, Twilight. Bad dream.” “It’s okay,” Twilight smiled reassuringly. She glanced down at the open books spread over the wide table before Daring. “Still looking into this Ahuizotl monster, huh?” she asked, tilting her head to study the now drool-covered notes that Daring had been using as a pillow. Daring winced and used her undone bow tie to try to mop up the worst of the drool. “Yeah,” she admitted. “It just doesn’t make sense how two separate groups in Ponyville could worship an old deity from southern Equestria.” She glanced over at a bound notebook she’d been studying; the typewritten label read “Liber Visionum Bestiae” Transcript, Whitetail Monastery, 11-23-1955. “Or how some lunatics can all dream about the thing and drive a group of nuns to worship it.” She flipped through the notebook, all the way to the last page with the bizarre tri-lobed eye. “Or what the hell this is and how it relates to…uh, Twilight, are you okay?” Twilight was staring at the illustration, her mouth gaping and her eyes bulging. “I’ve seen that symbol!” she gasped. “That’s actually part of why I came to talk to you! There’s a friend from the Everfree Forest that you need to meet!” Daring Do blinked. “From the Everfree Forest?” “Yes!” Twilight insisted, grabbing Daring’s foreleg in her excitement. “We found something in the Everfree Forest! An archaeological site and I think it might be connected to that!” Daring’s heart sped up in her chest. “Sure,” she said, pushing away from the table and standing, her legs stiff from hours of sitting still. “Great!” Twilight chirped. “She’s in the local history wing.” Twilight led her out of the reading room, past the rows of tables where students and faculty alike were studying, scratching down notes from stacks of books, cramming for tests or hunting down citations for reports. As Daring followed Twilight out of the room, the sound of flipping pages and scratching pencils fell silent in her wake. She shrugged her shoulders against the burning barrage of stares chasing her out. She glanced at a younger student pretending he wasn’t watching her over the book on advanced calculus. He jumped as her glare focused on him and hid behind the book like it was a shield, frantically scribbling down notes. Heat rushed up Daring’s face and she had to take a long, slow breath to settle herself. Like I’m a circus freak show… Twilight and Daring exited the reading room and headed upstairs to the third floor, following the signs to the History and Hippology section. Daring Do spotted the new face as soon as they entered. The tall zebra with the mohawk-like mane and cutie mark of a stylized sun was carrying a long wooden staff with a pair of painted gourds dangling from it. Golden bangles adorned her neck and one foreleg, and golden hoops hung from her ears. She was speaking to Spike, who was sitting on top of the receptionist’s desk with a stack of books nearby. The zebra turned to greet Twilight; the gourds on her staff rattled faintly as they moved, blending musically with the jingling of her bangles. “Zecora, this is Daring Do,” Twilight introduced the archaeologist. “She’s the explorer I told you about. Professor Do, this is Zecora. She lives in the Everfree Forest.” “I am glad to meet you, adventurer bold,” Zecora bowed in greeting. “Many tales of you Twilight has told.” “True ones, I hope,” Daring Do smiled, bowing back. “You actually live in the Everfree Forest?” Zecora nodded. “Five years ago, I was sent on a quest: to study all magic and learn from the best. I traveled the world, from mountains to sea, until I carved out a hut in an Everfree tree. The magic of the woods is unique and strange; the rules of the land oft’ seem to change. I’ve made the Everfree my central locus and study of the land my main focus.” “I met Zecora when I first came to Ponyville to study the Everfree Forest,” Twilight explained. “Since she was studying the magic of the forest as well, I thought we could work together. I’ve learned so much from her since then!” “You’ve gone into the Everfree Forest?” Daring asked, her eyes widening. “By yourself?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!” “Professor, I’m surprised to hear you say that, considering what I know about your past adventures,” Twilight smirked. “Honestly, the Everfree Forest’s reputation for danger is mostly hyperbole; as long as you keep to the outer perimeter and know what to expect, it’s not too dangerous. Zecora has shown me around the area.” “The woods may be a land of danger, but to risk and trouble I am no stranger,” Zecora smiled confidently. “After living there for a few years, I’ve learned ways to deal with fears.” “Of course, it helps to have a dragon to watch your back,” Spike declared, puffing himself up. Twilight rolled her eyes with an indulgent smile. “Yes, Spike, it makes me feel much safer having you with me,” she said. Daring Do considered Twilight for a moment, then chuckled. “Twilight Sparkle, you are something else.” “Thank you,” Twilight nodded, taking out a binder labeled Everfree Forest Research 1955-1956. “But we wanted your help for something else.” She pulled out a hoofdrawn map of the Everfree Forest on graph paper, complete with a scale and compass. Only parts of the perimeter and the northern section of the shapeless expanse were filled in; Daring noted that large sections had been repeatedly erased and redrawn. One of the only parts that had remained constant was a red X labeled Zecora’s Hut on the northwest border of the forest. “We’ve been exploring this area,” Twilight explained. “I’ve been comparing the topography with the maps made by past surveyors. We haven’t gone very deep into the forest, but it’s been tricky; the topography randomly changes, sometimes overnight.” “Changes?” Daring asked. “The trees and hills of the forest sometimes change position,” Zecora explained. “And sometimes gain a swamp or a river as an addition. Why this happens, no one knows; something about the forest’s magic, I suppose.” “Look,” Twilight said, pulling out copies of several other maps, each one marked with a date and an author’s name, and laying them out for Daring to examine. A survey of the eastern region in 1935 for an oil pipeline, a geological survey of the northern area in 1888, an ornithological expedition in the south and west in 1841…every one further back in time. And every one of them was slightly different: a river that ran a different course, a bog or a plain that appeared to have migrated a few miles to the west between the decades, or a hill that vanished and reappeared elsewhere. “The hell…?” Daring asked. “There are only a few places in the world that have shifting topography like the Everfree Forest,” Twilight explained. “The Discord Wastes in the Badlands, the Archipelago of Voices near Mount Aris…it’s always due to some powerful local magic, but no one’s ever been able to demonstrate the cause of the Everfree’s magic. I hope to find it myself!” Daring glanced at the maps and frowned. “Hmm…the center of the Forest has never been explored. None of the maps have filled it in.” She frowned at the tantalizing blank space on the charts. “It’s like on those old sea charts of unexplored seas. ‘Here there be monsters.’” “This is Equestria. There are lots of monsters,” Spike pointed out. “So how can you keep a consistent map if it keeps changing?” Daring asked. “Distances and landmarks are hard to judge, but there are a few places that do not budge,” Zecora added. “By studying these locations, we hope to get information on the hows and whys of navigation.” “And one of those landmarks is something that Zecora uncovered something to the northeast of her hut.” She pointed to a spot on the hoofdrawn map about nine miles from Zecora’s hut. “It was a circle of stones, with vines overgrown,” Zecora explained. “One stone stood apart, and upon it some strange art. The markings upon the face, neither of us could place, save for one symbol unique. Come, friend, and take a peek.” Twilight, who was practically quivering with anticipation, pulled out a collection of photographs and placed it on the table for Daring to examine. Daring fanned them out in her wing, her heart beating faster with every picture. The photographs did display a circle of large granite stones, eleven of them. Six menhirs, their forms smoothed with age, formed a loose circumference, with five smaller slabs laying flat within the circle in a form that Daring couldn’t decide was in a haphazard manner or a deceptive pattern. The anomalous stone was a roughly hewn stela of granite, a few meters away from the standing stones. Only part of it remained standing; parts of the face had fractured off like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The piece that remained was marked with partial hieroglyphs. Though Daring did not recognize the language, there was indeed one symbol that she recognized. A single eye, the iris formed of three circular lobes, with an x-shaped pupil. Daring’s heart skipped a beat. “That’s…that’s from the Liber Visionum Bestiae,” she whispered. “I told you!” Twilight cried. “This could be connected to what happened in the Whitetail Monastery!” “You mean connected to a bunch of nuns who went insane and started worshiping a monster?” Spike asked as Daring bent over the picture with a magnifying glass. “I don’t recognize this language,” Daring admitted. “But maybe if we find the rest of the pieces, we might be able to figure it out.” She looked over the photograph once more. “Maybe even learn who these creatures were…” “Haven.” Daring looked up to see Doctor Caballeron approaching, his eyes on the documents that Twilight had spread across the table. “The Lost City of Haven, mi amiga,” Caballeron breathed again, taking one photograph of the fragmented stela and holding it up. “Long have there been rumors of a settlement hidden deep within the Everfree Forest, active to this day. This, perhaps, might be the evidence we have sought of its existence! And if the SIsters were headed there, then there may be more to find!” “Uh…” Daring turned to Zecora, who was blinking at the newcomer in polite befuddlement. “Zecora, this is my colleague, Doctor Dorada Caballeron, Professor of Archaeology and Ancient Cultures.” “Ah, my mistake, señora,” Dorada said, bowing politely to the zebra. “Forgive me, I was so enraptured with these images that I neglected to greet our guest.” “Your apology, doctor, is unneeded,” she smiled, bowing back. “I can see a mind in which curiosity is seeded.” “Didn’t they say something about curiosity and the cat?” Spike muttered. Twilight once again ignored him. “We must mount an expedition at once!” Caballeron declared excitedly. “We shall require food, camping equipment, cameras–” “Hold up, Cabbie,” Daring interrupted him, unable to keep the grin off her face. “We need to do the proper research first, scout out the land. And that’s if Dean Paper will let us go.” “Have you forgotten, Daring?” Dorada cried. “Spring break is next week! We shall have plenty of time to explore to our hearts’ contentment!” Daring’s heart leaped. “You’re right!” she gasped. Twilight glowed with excitement. “This is gonna be great! We’ll have to do research, and re-research, and planning, and making checklists…!” Spike looked at the photograph of the stela. The baleful eye of the Tantabus stared back at him coldly from the granite. “Am I the only one with a bad feeling about this?” he mumbled to himself.