Daring Do and the Sun-piece

by Rarity Belle

Temple of the unholy nightwatcher

The pegasus arrived in Ponyville a couple days later by the carriage. It was after she had settled herself in a small hotel wanted to trek out again. Daring Do just wanted to find whatever the object might be to help her in her quest. An object that was apparently located within the Everfree.

Granted she had to admit that the town was nice but some of the weirdest ponies she had ever seen happened to be living there. The kind of types she rather didn't make any contact with whatsoever. Daring laid the matter to rest after she was done with the strolling around and made the decision to go to bed really for a fresh mind.

It would have been in the early afternoon of the second day of her stay that she found herself leaving the hotel. She would have gone over the ways nopony ever took. The pegasus ventured without being spotted by any other soul to the very entrance of the mythical Everfree forest. A forest that rightfully gave her the creeps when it came to the matter. She took a deep exhale. “It is now or never, Daring, you know that” she mumbled to herself. With a confident look in her eyes had she mindlessly stepped into the borders of the woods, continuing on her journey.

The more Daring ventured into the forest, the more confident she got in actually finding the mythical piece. She fixed her hat just a little bit before a nod came. The pegasus didn't encounter any of the dangers the forest was said to be housing though. Yet since it was midday when she walked into it, it meant that most predators were asleep, so she hoped. “Now, if I were a temple myself, where would I hide? Out of sight for everypony as an obvious fact.” That little line made a spark to come up in Daring’s eyes before she grinned. “Hide! I need to get off the road,” she said into herself after a small eureka moment. Daring’s eyes looked over the vegetation before she went from the path she was walking on into the real forest and therefore the real wilderness of Equestria.

The pegasus then just kept walking while she never allowed her guard down for anything that may happen. The further she got in, the more the trees became darker and twisted in her eyes. Their brightly brown barks had turned into a unpleasant black while not a single leaf could be seen on their branches. It was an eerie situation to say the least and the explorer felt it deep within her body. She shouldn't be there, yet she continued to go.

Daring took a couple sniffs in the air but almost immediately began to cough from the sheer scent, or better said: stench. She had recognizing the smell a bit too well as it was the smell of something rotting from the inside out. Yet what surprised her the most was the very fact that not a single creature even dared to come in that part of the forest. No birds, not even insects dared it. It was almost like the darkness, or possibly Death, itself lived in there. “What horrible creature did all of this..?” Daring asked herself out loud as she looked at the sight and held a hoof before her nose.

The pegasus knew she had to trek further. She was at the right way for as much as she could tell to herself. She just needed to continue deeper into the darkened part of the forest. A thing she didn't do with much pleasure at heart.

---

It was a bit further in the distance that her eyes spotted something that appeared to be a stone structure. A structure that stood literally in the middle of nowhere. The pegasus turned her head back and far in the distance there were the few splashes of the brown and green trees that could be found as the songs sung by the birds echoed in her ears ever so faintly.

Daring then turned her head back towards the stone structure and would have gazed at it for the moment. There was a thick and low hanging fog that began to crawl towards her. The pegasus slowly gathered all of her guts for as much as she could. She then confidently started to make her way further over the blackened wasteland. It was the only thing she could do in the moment.

With each step that she took, she felt herself a bit more uncomfortable and Daring didn't even dare to look at the ground for unexplained reasons. She kept her eyes fixed upon either the skies above her or the trees in the distance. But the further her gaze went, the more it stared into simply darkness. A darkness that didn't move, that didn't expand. It was just there.

A chilly blow of the wind went passed the pegasus. It sent a shiver down her spine of utter discomfort. To make matters even worse, there was a whisper that went through the air. It echoed almost peacefully, almost like a mother's voice which would speak to her newborn foal. “Daring...”

Yet the mare didn't gave it too much attention at first. She didn't even wanted to know what it was. While her head tried to block the calling of her name, her ears caught up something that she didn't hear in years. A voice of which she had thought to be forgotten so many years ago. The voice of the forest had turned itself into a more motherly one, one she remembered well. “Daring...Do...”

It was only then that her eyes shot up and looked into every direction. Her head moved around and around followed up by the body. “M-M-Mommy..?” she quietly asked into the sheer nothingness of the wasteland.

“Yes my dear, mommy is here for you.”

“Where are you mommy!?” the mare asked out loud as some tears of memories from ages ago began to build up under her eyes. “Where are you!?”

And again out of nowhere, there was that chilly wind that did its turn again. But the second time it came from behind and gave the pegasus the biggest shiver she ever had. In response she quickly turned herself around to witness what could have caused it.

Though she simply stared down in the eyes of a misty ghostpony. “My sweet, little Daring,” the ghost spoke under a soft smile. But Daring took one good look at this cursed being and knew one thing for sure, it was everything but her deceased mother. Quickly did the pegasus manage to turn herself around again and just galloped away in mere seconds from the horrifying sight.

That action had angered the ghost sincerely. It began to gallop after her under a terrifying, loud screech. The pegasus had set her eyes on the very opening of the, for so far she could tell, stone igloo shaped temple and set everything on the hope she would make it to the entrance. A small puff of steam left her nose and in one sharp turn, she turned herself over to the entrance of the temple. “Let’s dance!” she yelled through the air and kicked her legs into their highest gear. “Shall we?”

The ghost was closing in on Daring and screeched even more in delight. But the pegasus was almost there. With one last jump had she closed her eyes and prayed for the best possible result.

There were long seconds of just nothing which were followed up by a hard, cold stone floor of the igloo while the ghost kept screeching. But it never appeared to be coming closer. The explorer quickly got up again and watched to the world on the outside. Her dark pinkish eyes just watched as the spirit walked before the entrance as if it was waiting on something or somepony. From time to time it tried to enter with a charge, but every attempt failed as it was blocked by a shield of magic. It released another loud scream before it disappeared into the air, knowing that Daring had won the round. But there would be others, there would be others indeed.

---

With the disappearance of the ghost did Daring turn herself around once again and allowed her eyes to fall into the darkness of the temple as she fixed her hat. Not much could be made up with the exception a staircase that went down at the end of the short hallway and a torch holder. “Now, what do we have here..?” Daring spoke to herself. She took out her trusted whip. She made her way over to the staircase. She tried to look down in its darkness, but without success. Her attention turned over to the unlit torch. The idea was sparked in her mind. Soon enough had she got it lit and held a burning torch in her hoof. Finally did she had some form of light with her, she wanted to know if there was anything on the walls that might be of interest for her. Maybe something that could help?

Her eyes went over the walls as she walked by then, watching the overgrown marking they had. By some she wiped away the plants to have a better look before shining her torch by them. It was only the first painting she had undone from its green before a shock went through her. “What in the name of Equestria is this?” Daring spoke in a whisper to herself. The more her eyes stared at it, the more they began to play a scene before her eyes.

The paintings revealed a new look on Nightmare Moon as an entity, a new part of her history that was never told before by any official mouths. When the princess of the sun had banished the monster into its millennium during imprisonment, Nightmare began to wait a long time. Simply waiting for an eclipse to take place which would be used as a near perfect opportunity. For a long two hundred years she sat on the moon. Then one finally took its turn and she gathered every ounce of dark magic in her. Every last bit of it was then shot towards the very sun that covered the lands.

A plan that backfired on her almost instantly. Her plan was to corrupt the very sun by making it become a black sun thus succeeding on her plan of eternal night. But where the beam was supposed to do that, the part that got hit became corrupted almost in an instant. There was one thing she didn't took her measurements for: the defense systems of the sun came up and fought off the corruption in the only way it knew.

The corrupted piece was simply released and fell off of the sun before it landed somewhere in Equestria. something that caused the guards for many weeks to look for it and eventually the only remaining princess herself found it. She ordered a temple to be built around it, a temple to block it off from the world for one major reason. “…For this piece is too dangerous to be seen by mortal eyes…” Daring spoke to herself. She had read what was written below each of the paintings.

By that point in time she had uncovered all the paintings from their vegetation and she was simply shocked by the messages they carried, for she never expected this kind of thing to happen. “But after the Monster of the Night was released once more, the Princess of the Sun destroyed her once more, releasing her sister from its torment and locking it up in stone… Bloody goodness, where have I gotten myself into this time!?” Daring said to herself. She held a hoof to her mouth. The words that she read had a much bigger impact on her then she had expected them to be.

After she had calmed down from the story she just read, her attention focused itself on the staircase. Slowly she began to descend from its circular steps, holding the torch in front of her. Slowly but surely she went further down while more and more pants came out of the walls. And to make things even more uncomfortable, the distance between the walls became narrower with every forty steps. The descend was long and Daring didn't had any idea where it would lead her too.

---

Eventually she found herself at the very bottom of the staircase and she released a deep sigh of relief but her dark pinkish eyes fell upon the long hallway that stretched out before her. From as far as she could tell, there was nothing within it. But she knew deep in her guts that something was waiting for her. Daring took a good look on the hallway and noticed the markings of Nightmare Moon herself being drawn on the walls. And on the floor there was a stained glass image of the Empress of the Night herself. The walls had no vegetation on them and almost no dust was found on the floor. Whereas the upper part and staircase were not cleaned in years, this particular hallway looked like it was cleaned the day before.

The pegasus carefully walked down the hallway and rest her eyes at everything to be seen, but nothing moved. With every step she took rose, the feeling of discomfort rose up further. Fears began to crawl up in her body like never before, fears that came from within the very depths of her soul as she approached the archway to the final chamber which appeared to be lit with light. “Just what is this place? A temple for her? To honor the being that wants to drop Equestria in eternal darkness..?” Daring questioned herself out loud. Her mind began to recall everything she had seen so far. Though time was up when she walked through the archway and stood within the final chamber of the hidden temple that laid in the Everfree forest. Answers would come in their time.

The chamber itself was made of a darker type of stone and circular of shape. Daring looked up and noticed how the structure came together in a dome-like shape. Plants nor dust were nowhere to be seen either while the many torches kept the room lit with light. All while the pegasus looked right across the room and got the scare of her life.

A life sized statue of Nightmare Moon that stood in the most horrifying pose. It stood on its hind legs while kicking her forelegs into the air. The dark wings spread out wide and a strange grin in her face revealing some fangs in high detail. While two crimson red rubies acted as the eyes. The statue almost looked like the real Nightmare due to the way the stone was cut and the high attention to details. Only master carvers would have been able to make such a thing a reality.

Once Daring had calmed herself down once again, she slowly approached the statue while she kept an eye on it for any surprises and noticed a chest by the base of the statue. She carefully maneuvered herself under the statue and looked at the chest. In her eyes she noticed that the thing was truly something old, probably five hundred years by her best guess. Yet somehow it was still in a good condition. The pegasus took a good look at it and ever so carefully opened the lid of the chest.

Under a soft screech did the lid opened and allowed the eyes of Daring to peek inside. In there she found a piece of paper, a document that was rolled up and sealed by a sign that was unknown to her. “Hello, what’s this now?” The daring pegasus took out the piece of paper with care. She then closed the lid of the chest again after which she made her departure very slowly. Her eyes were focused on the statue, she was looking for any movement it might make. After some anxious minutes, Daring was back once again in the hallway where she let go a deep sigh of relief.

---

But unknown to her and hidden deeply away in a dark cave unknown to every single soul, the figure that had left the stone statue sat on a makeshift throne as the eyes shot open the very moment the chest got opened. Its lime green irises and cat like pupils staring towards the entrance of the cave as it spoke in a female voice. “The document...” The horn of the figure shown a deep purple and a blast of magic got released which began to form itself into a mist.

The mist would have left the cave in order to roam over the lands. “Celestia, you made a big mistake! Soon enough,” were the last words spoken by the figure as some of its white fangs revealed themselves under a sadistic grin while the eyes closed themselves. After some time it calmed down and white fangs disappeared. Only the moving deep purple manes and tail of mist indicated that something was there to be found.

---

Back inside of the temple had Daring managed to walk back up the stairs again and took one last look at the markings by the entrance. “Just what was your goal by corrupting the sun? To exterminate the day..?” she questioned herself out loud before resting her eyes on the entrance again. She knew that the ghost would still be out there, but in her mind she got an idea which might work out well. She took out her whip again and took a couple deep breaths before simply walking towards the entrance with a risen head.

When she set a hoof outside there was nothing that happened but the very moment she left the magical shield did the ghost become visible again as its eyes were filled with utter rage and hatred. “You!” it shouted during the charge straight towards the mare.

Daring only smirked a little and with one powerful leash, the whip broke the sound barrier and the sonic boom stopped the ghost dead in its tracks. The adventurous pegasus did it a couple more times as the ghost only began to walk more backwards under some hisses. “Leave now, and do not disturb me again!” One last dark hiss left the ghost the realm. It made its return into the depths of the woods. Daring rolled her whip up and began to make her run back to the main path of the forest, moving over to the wastelands for one last time.

The explorer galloped back into the real forest where the leaves were green and the sounds rich but that didn't slow down her pacing. The document that she had in her possession was something she wanted to know the content of.

---

Once she had finally entered the little hotel once again, Daring Do made her way back up to her room and glared over the key she was given the previous day. A room was given to her until she would leave again, which might be sooner or later then she wanted. The door unlocked itself and rest her eyes on the rather simple room before her.

The room was a little bit messy given her nature but she couldn't complain as it was a lot bigger than one she had on the bar. A large one pony bed, a table to study on, a chair to sit in and a chair by the study table. She walked in and closed the door behind her. She untied her vest and dropped it on the bed. She threw her hat to the pillows of the bed under a little grin. “Much better this way,” she smirked to herself.

Daring would have opened the door to the bathroom and placed some towels on the ground while the bathtub started to fill up with warm, steamy water. After a little minute, the bath was quite full and the water supply got closed as the pegasus placed her hoof in the water and let go a rather comfortable ‘hmm’. Without much hesitation did the explorer got into the tub and made herself comfortable in it while her eyes closed themselves off from the world.

The hairs of her mane and tail were floating freely in the tub while Daring gently began to drift off into a light slumber, letting the water release her from both stress and filth of Everfree.

After a long time did Daring finally open her eyes again before had left the tub. The mare began to dry herself off and wrapped her body in a couple of towels. She then left the room and dropped herself on the bed. With a hoof had she taking the document out of her vest. “What content do you house inside you?” she wondered to herself aloud.

When her manes were all dried up again she removed the towels from her head and took place behind the study table, dropping the ancient piece of paper before her. “I must open it...” Daring spoke in a doubtful voice and under a deep sigh, she broke the seal and started to read through it.

“The Desert of Solitude, that's where it landed.” Then it all become clear to her. Her mind began to work in overdrive as she recalled her memory on the many rumors and legends she had heard about the place. Words said that a long time ago, the Desert was a place full of life. But all of it changed one day due to an event little is known about. Long was it said that princess Celestia was the cause of it all when a Solar Eruption spell went horribly wrong. Many agreed to this rumor for it seemed to be the most logical one.

But in her hooves she had the true proof. That the mythical Sun-piece had found its final resting place in the desert and wiped out all life in it. The story with Celestia was a cover-up, for one of the biggest threats in the land. And Daring, was going to find it. “Goodness great. This has to be one of the biggest cover-ups in history. But who do those stallions work for? I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this all. But only time will tell if I made a good or right choice,” the pegasus stood up from the chair. She glared out of the window for a while into the darkness. After some time had passed, she would have brushed her teeth and went to a well-earned night rest. Whatever would be standing in the documents, it was something that could be waiting to the following day in her mind.