Another Day, Another Dungeon

by 00Pony

Chapter 10

“It seems luck is something we have in common. Well, lucky is a relative term, considering.”

“You could say that, yeah!” Daring called up to Velvet, before shaking her head vigorously to rid her mane of sand, “You going to stay up there all day, or are you going to come on down here?” The Pegasus asked, giving Velvet a raised eyebrow.

The Unicorn mare nodded her affirmation, looking to the back of the room below her. The door next to the lever had slid open when the trap had been shut off. Velvet assumed that was where the fork in the hallways led to, “Yeah, just give me a minute.” She called down to Daring, before wheeling about and making her way as quick as she could down the hallway.

Upon reaching the fork, she went down the other hallway, and sure enough, she found herself in the same chamber as Daring. She gave the Pegasus – who had gotten herself off of the table-like rock and was now standing – another, smaller wave. Daring just looked at her for a few seconds in silence, before shaking her head and laughing, “You are one heck of a pony, you know that Vel?” She said. At the Unicorn’s confused expression, she trotted over and poked her in the chest, “I thought for sure that you were dead. Crushed or burnt back in the temple. And yet here you stand, right after saving my tail. It’s a heck of a thing.”

Twilight Velvet flinched slightly at Daring’s poke, but she was more concerned with what the Pegasus had said. She gave a nervous chuckle, “Oh, yeah. Teleported myself out, I suppose-” She had begun to say, but Daring cut her off with the words, “You suppose?” She said, as she trotted over to retrieve her hat.

Velvet gave an exasperated huff, “Well, I can’t necessarily control them! They just kind of happen. You know why and all that.”

Daring Do laughed, setting her hat tightly around her head once again. She stepped back into the doorway leading out of the chamber, looking down into the darkened hallway, before glancing back over at Velvet, “Well, either way I’m glad to see you’re still kicking. I might not be if it weren’t for you. Anyway, what do you say we get back to business, and find out where Ahuizotl decided to take the Statue?”

Velvet nodded, turning to face down the hallway, and starting down it, “Sounds like a plan.” She said as she went. Daring followed after her.

It took about a minute of walking through the dank, winding hallway before Daring spoke up again, “What happened to you? Your side, I mean.” She asked.

“Oh, that,” Velvet said, biting the inside of her cheek briefly, before shrugging slightly, “I ran into what was possibly the only trap on the way down to you. One of those arrow traps. One of them took me through the side. I’m lucky, really. It missed anything important, so I shouldn’t really have to worry too much. Though it would probably be good to get medical attention to it as soon as I can.” She cut herself off, and waved a hoof, “I’m going to start rambling. What about you? How’d you get out of there?”

“It seems luck is something we have in common. Well, lucky is a relative term, considering. I was able to get to the opening in the top, and then physics and all that complicated stuff took over as the magma got closer to the roof and woosh, I’m in the air. But anyway, I landed kinda heavily. Did have to use my wings a little bit, otherwise I might have had an even worse landing,” she twitched her good wing against her side as she spoke, “Anyway, I wasn’t out there for very long before Ahuizotl and his cats showed up. Long story short, they captured me, and brought me here for that little execution thing you found me in.”

The way in which Daring told this story made it sound like such a thing was no big deal. But then again, she’d been taking most of this adventure this way. The mare’s confidence still caused Velvet confusion, but much like the architecture of all of these structures, she had stopped questioning it. Their conversation trailed off into silence once more. No words really needed to be said, as both of them knew exactly what they were going to be walking into. As much as any pony going up against a spirit could know.

Both Velvet and Daring could tell that they were nearing the exit to the dungeon. The expected musty, dank smell of the tunnel was now weakening, and it was slowly being replaced by the thick, humid scent of the jungle outside. While that scent in itself was usually a very unpleasant thing, compared to the air that Velvet and Daring had both been experiencing for the past several minutes, it was one of the sweetest things they’d ever smelled.

And soon, they were out in the open. The humid air of the outside hit both mares like a brick wall, but only for a second. Daring Do was already making her way down a faint path through the vegetation, “Come on,” she said, “If there’s one thing that we can thank Ahuizotl for, it’s his arrogance. The idiot didn’t even try to cover up his tracks.”

Velvet nodded, but she followed Daring at a much more cautious pace than the one that the Pegasus was taking, “I know that a lot of what we’ve seen points to this being the case, Daring, but are we sure that Ahuizotl’s really this incompetent?”

Daring Do nodded without taking her eyes off of where she was going, “Oh yeah. Well, kinda. Back before I came here, when I was doing all that research and stuff on Ahuizotl and his Statue, I came across one thing that said he may very well have been created, or something like that, during the Discordian Era. Something about his being an entity corrupted by the Draconequus’ magic. Didn’t really mix and Ahuizotl was the outcome. Whether this is true or not, I don’t really know. But it might explain why everything that makes no sense to us makes a lot of sense to him. Like leaving the activation to an execution chamber in the chamber,” She shrugs, “Not entirely sure, really. But hey, it works out for us, so I’ll roll with it.”

That answer was good enough for Velvet, and she pursued the topic no longer, and instead continued to follow Daring. It didn’t take much longer before they heard the voice of Ahuizotl once again. As they drew nearer, the spirit’s words became clearer, “With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer mightily at my hands.” Were the first words that came drifting up to them.

That had taken a significantly shorter amount of time than Velvet had expected, but she was not about to start complaining. They were this much closer to getting the Statue back, and with that, so much closer to getting out of this jungle. Only question was how they were going to get out. She figured they’d just cross that bridge when they got there. Daring took a turn, and led Velvet up a hill on their right. Upon reaching the top, she lowered herself, and crept up to the edge, glancing over. Velvet stayed back, just watching her and wondering what she might be seeing. When Daring turned around, it seemed that she had a plan. The Pegasus faced Velvet, “Like I said, the spirit’s an idiot. Sitting there monologuing to his cats, and he’s got the Statue held in his tail. Alright, here’s the deal. I’m going to get that back. How? Well, there’s plenty of vines around, and I think if I hit can get at the right angle, I can land on an overhang across from us.”

“You think?” Velvet asked, apprehensive.

“Well, almost nothing’s ever guaranteed. But I have a good feeling that this’ll work out,” Daring said, waving a hoof and glancing about looking for a vine. Finding one that seemed to please her, she reached out and took a hold of it. Below them, Ahuizotl had begun to laugh. Velvet nodded slowly as she thought over Daring’s plan, “Alright, and what am I going to do during all of this?” She asked.

The Pegasus glanced back at her, “Start making your way over there. Try not to be seen and all that, if that wasn’t obvious already. I’ll meet up with you after I get that back, okay?”

Before Velvet was able to answer, Daring Do had leapt from the hilltop, falling in a swift arc on the vine to which she clung. Velvet stayed to watch for a few seconds, before turning and making her way as quickly as she could down the hill, and to where she imagined she might meet back up with the Pegasus. Daring’s plan, for as foolhardy as it was, had somehow worked, her descent sending her right by the boastful spirit, Ahuizotl, and she had snatched the Sapphire Statue right out of his tail’s grasp. The sound of the spirit’s lamentations served as a backdrop to her flight.

Over the course of the next several minutes, Twilight Velvet had made her way through the underbrush, and emerged at the foot of the hill on the opposite end of where she had previously stood. Daring Do had been waiting for her, and upon meeting up, they made their way back towards Caballo. It would take them a very long time on hoof, but right now, neither of them really cared. The Sapphire Statue was secured, and whatever Ahuizotl may have been planning to use it for was now no longer of any concern. Getting home could wait, if only a little while longer. For now, the world was safe; thanks to Daring Do.