The rain was incredible. Daring was all too familiar with the weather of a tropical rain forest, and this was no exception. The boat pulled ashore at it's destination just as the thicker clouds rolled in and the wind began to blow. The sky was a dark grey, and the clouds blanketed the air like a dreary quilt. The wind blew harshly on the open water of the river, and Daring had to grab her helmet and hold it down on top of her head to prevent it from getting taken away with one of the stronger gusts. She stuck a hoof underneath the brim, and loosened the chinstrap. She placed her pith helmet back over the top of her head, stretching the strap down over her muzzle and under her chin, keeping it in place.
The truck's engine roared to life, and in the dimming light the headlights shined bright. The truck rolled off the exit ramp of the boat, and down onto the muddy bank of the shore. Moments later, it was resting neatly on a pony-made trail supposedly made recently to reach the site. Daring was getting ready to get off of the boat herself, but it was then that she remembered her bag. In the driving rain that was starting to obstruct her vision with streaks of grayish-blue, she could barely make out the soaked form of her bag on the far side of the deck. Daring trotted over to it and picked it up with one of her free hooves, slinging it back over her shoulder. She looked up, trying to see which way the shore was through the torrential downpour. She could see crashing breakers on boulders jutting out from the river, and the water was churning violently with the storm. A great hulk seemed to rise up from the depths of the waters. Daring's eyes widened as she saw it. The hulk was long and dark, and it had a distinct shape. It looked like a long tube, rounded off at both ends. The top of it was flat like the deck of a ship, and another cube-like compartment sat atop that. In the pouring rain, Daring could not make much out of the markings, but she could see the distinct red flag with the white circle in the center flapping in the turbulent winds. There was a black shape at the center of the white dot, and it appeared to be a symbol of a mighty creature rearing back, claws stretched ahead of it.
Daring had seen quite enough. She knew what she had just seen through the sheets of rain. She turned and quickly galloped back towards shore, leaping of the boat and landing in the mud. Her four hooves sank down into the runny muck, but Daring was able to free herself. The truck was now on the trail, and Daring was able to leap the back of it, which was covered by a canvas roof.
"What in the name of Celestia was all that about?" Trenchoof asked, looking at the soaking wet Daring covered head to hoof in mud. Daring gasped, and replied to the former sergeant.
"There was something in the water," responded Daring, "It looked like some kind of boat that just.... came right up out of the water. A submarine of some kind."
"Yes," murmured Trenchoof disdainfully, "A U-Boat. I'm willing to bet the Gryphons have got the military involved in this dig. Let's hope they don't find the site of the ruins we're heading for, but I want everypony to be on guard, do you hear?"
"Got it," Daring agreed. She saw Elise look up, mane drenched with rain. She nodded as well.
"Good," said Trenchoof, "Well, we need to get somepony to get the perimeter marked out. Stiflehock, that's up to you when we arrive, raining or not. Dr- er, Daring, you'll be needed inside the ruins themselves. There's some chambers we've discovered recently, as well as some artifacts that need to be examined."
"No problem," Daring said, "actually, it'd be my pleasure."
****
Twenty minutes passed before the group arrived at the actual site of the ruins. The heavy rainfall continued through all of that period, and occasionally the sky was lit up with a brilliant flash of light as lightning crackled sporadically. The truck chugged through the small trail that had been cleared through the brush, and despite the weather the armed guards were paying careful attention to their surroundings.
The truck pulled to a stop in front of a rock structure that was at the bottom of a small hill in an odd-looking clearing. The clearing had few trees growing in it, and was made up of a rain-soaked hill topped with some kind of structure at the top made out of stone. The base was a set of statues that had fallen into disrepair. Ahead, Daring could see a slightly larger building that was also constructed out of stone but was in a cluster of trees. The building afforded protection from the driving rain, so many of the ponies headed there as soon as the truck stopped. Elise and Trenchoof made their way over there, where a makeshift base of operations had already been constructed days ago. In the dim lighting afforded by the dense cloud coverage, several lanterns were lit under dry cover to be able to see. Daring herself made it over there, stepping out from the muddy ground and onto the dry stone floor of the building.
"Wow, look at this architecture," Daring noted, looking around at the building itself. The pillars that held the ceiling aloft were ornate despite being hoof-carved, and the interior walls seemed lined with embossed and engraved images that depicted scenes from the area. Daring took a look at some of the pictures. They were relatively mundane, showing ponies pulling farm equipment behind them. That was noteworthy from an archaeological standpoint (it had been suggested that the plow had been invented in South Equestria by ancient pony civilizations), however it was not something Daring would expect to see at the city of Zenith.
"Now, if this is Zenith, then there's got to be a reference to the trials here," said Daring, examining the carvings. They were all interesting, but they depicted tools being used and no historical events to verify the location's significance in ancient pony mythology.
"So what do you mean by 'trials'?" asked Trenchoof, taking off his campaign hat and shaking it with a free hoof in an attempt to rid it of some water droplets.
"Well, the trials refers to the tasks that the gods indicated must be completed in order for a new king to ascend to the throne. So, each time the current king died, the potential replacements needed to pass all the trials," Daring explained, "According to legend, the gods set up a kind of obstacle course in the underworld. The potential kings would be led down into the underworld, and then in order to reach their kingdom they would have to pass through several ordeals and physically demanding trials. Many of the candidates were ruled out simply because they died trying to beat a certain trial."
"So the trials start down below the Earth, or do they start on the top and work down?" asked Trenchoof, who had now replaced his hat back atop his head.
"No, the trials go up higher and higher, until they reach the very highest level of the Underworld," said Daring, "the first pony that made it out of the Underworld and back up to the 'overworld' was crowned king. I guess they didn't do it by heredity."
"Apparently not," said Trenchoof, "So that's why it's called Zenith? Zenith means peak, and it's the peak of the underworld?"
"Yeah," Daring said, "that's right. Hey, I'm going to go take a look at that thing up on top of that hill we passed, I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Understood. Do what you need to do."
****
Lightning continued to crackle and light up the sky as Daring reached the top of the hill. There was a stone pavilion at the top of it, which still had four support columns despite it's age and exposure to the elements. The wind was whipping by, and Daring could feel herself getting soaking wet from the slanted angle of the drops reaching underneath the top of the pavilion. Her mane was being flailed about in the wind, but she set to work anyways.
Daring bent in closer to examine the markings on the floor of the structure. It had been worn down and was barely visible, but she could make out the form of several ponies on it. They weren't doing anything out of the ordinary in the engravings here, either. Daring turned to look at the broken statues about the base of the structure, but paused as she heard something among the din of activity nearby and the howling of the wind.
It was a mechanical sound, similar to the rumbling of the truck's engine, only deeper. Daring lifted up her head, peering at the trees down below. The dark sky and the rain made it hard to see, but she thought she saw some kind of dark form on the road cleared for the truck. She squinted to see better, when suddenly the sky was lit by a bolt of lightning. Daring could see the form of a massive vehicle with a turret and a large cannon-like protrusion lumbering closer to the other group for a split second, and then all was once again dark. The flash was followed by a loud rumbling of thunder.
Daring's eyes widened as she processed what she had just seen. She looked over towards the other group in the building. They were scurrying about, looking scared. Daring backed up against a pillar of the area she was, keeping a low profile and restricting herself to the shadows.
There was yelling, and the sound of gunshots and screaming pierced through the steady drumming of the rain. Bright flashes of orange and puffs of smoke lit up the darkened brush of the rain forest, and bodies fell about down into the mud, laying still. Above them stood stone-faced soldiers, equipped with metal helmets and pointing rifles at the ponies that stood against the wall. The soldiers had heads like hawks, and bodies like lions. Their wings were furled behind their backs. With frustrated agitation, on of the officers conversed with Trenchoof. Even from as far away as Daring was the tension was apparent. The Gryphons were aggressive after all, and she had been wrong. Those who hadn't been killed in the surprise ambush attack seemed to be surrendering, and likely they would be taken prisoner.
"This is bad," whispered Daring, grimacing. She stood up, standing in the middle of the darkened structure to avoid being seen by any of the gryphon soldiers. She thought that if she could slowly descend the hill on the opposite side, she might have a chance of hiding from the soldiers. Yeah, that was a good idea. She would hide from them until they had left, and then she would follow the gryphons from a distance. If she was careful, she might have a chance of springing the prisoners.
Her forming plans were dashed to pieces as another flash of lightning struck nearby. The bright light illuminated the inside of the small stone pavilion, and made Daring's silhouette clearly visible from the base of the hill, where several gryphon soldiers stood. Daring winced. She could hear the exited sounds of soldiers yelling. Gunshots rang out through the rain, and Daring heard the sounds of bullets whizzing by close to her. They were shooting at her.
Daring whirled on her hooves, dashing down onto the other side of the hill as fast as her legs could carry her. With the rain and the lightning it was a bad idea to take to the skies, and the dense forest would provide her with sufficient protection if she could evade the gryphons that she knew must already be in pursuit. The archaeologist pony tore through a patch of vines, penetrating deeper into the overgrown forest. The wet mud sunk beneath her hooves but she pressed onward, branches of low-lying plants whacking against her body and her bag. The downhill portion quickly shifted to an elevation, which Daring mounted without wasting a moment. She was running as fast as she could given the fact that she could hardly see a thing in this jungle.
Behind her, the sound of firing weapons and shouting soldiers grew fainter. Perhaps she was beyond their immediate range, but they would likely comb the area for her during the night. She could not rest here. Daring continued on over the top of the next hill and reached a flat area covered with wet ferns. She knew that her path would be easy to follow through trampled ferns, so Daring cautiously flapped her wings. The pegasus was able to hover low over the ground and circumvent the patch of ferns. She landed in a puddle of mud on the other side and quickly regretted it as she sank in up to her vest. Her legs were completely submerged in runny muck, and she swore to herself as she struggled to pull them free. Her wings provided the extra oomph necessary to extricate herself. Covered in mud, Daring continued running through the low-lying brambles and shrubs as best she could, placing some good distance between herself and the area that she had previously been. The pony continued to run for what felt like hours, though without a good timepiece she had no way of telling for sure.
Daring looked back as she struggled over a hill, seeing her progress. The tree coverage made it difficult to see, so she ascended up the side of a nearby tree on the very top of the hill. She rested on a branch protruding from the side, observing the position of the river. She had been near the river when she started. The trail that led to the ruins had been parallel to the river. Now she could see that the river was far in the distance over the leafy treetops of the dense forest. The rain was considerably lighter, and the clouds were starting to move away, but the sky did not get any lighter. Nighttime was falling, and Daring would have to find somewhere to lay low for the night. Perhaps...
CRACK!
A branch snapped beneath her and Daring lost her balance, falling down onto the ground with a force that knocked the wind right out of the pony. Daring had landed on the downhill side, and tumbled down the rocky slope with increasing momentum. She put her hooves out to try and slow herself, but she struck a rock and recoiled in sudden jarring pain as she was slammed up against the side of a jagged boulder. The frightening experience was jolted to a halt as Daring stopped tumbling, and tried to catch her breath. Her pith helmet was still on top of her head, having been kept on by a chin strap. She could feel the many bruises and scrapes she had suffered from her fall, and her head was pounding. Daring struggled weakly up, and realized that it was hopeless to try to continue. She was hurt, and exhausted, and the waves of fatigue flowing over her prevented her from exerting any more. She had pushed herself in her fleeing, and the feeling of fatigue made her want to stop. She tried to fight the feeling, but her energy was low. The pony stumbled about, trying hard to stay upright on all fours, but the darkness of unconsciousness began to tug at her and slow her down. Unable to keep her fatigue at bay any longer, Daring collapsed in the mud, eyes rolling back into her head as a black pool seemed to open before her.