Daring Do and the Trials of Zenith

by Fedora

The Ball Court

Trenchoof trampled through the underbrush quickly, ducking down underneath the thick, low branches that crowded his sight. Elise was not far behind him, carefully climbing up and over the path he cut through the woods for her.

"It sure is hard to travel in this stuff," Trenchoof remarked. Elise looked around her, eyes narrowing. She did not recognize much of the forest around her. They must have been in a new area, one that they hadn't traveled in before.

"What if we get ourselves lost?" asked Elise. Trenchoof laughed lightly.

"I'd rather be lost then captive," he said, "There's something to be said for being the master of your own destiny. I'd rather have to stay alive and work my way back to civilization slowly then be at the mercy of a foreign government, particularly one that doesn't like me as a past enemy."

"Alright," Elise agreed. The two continued walking for a distance, until they crossed a wide path that had been sliced through the woods. The trees and brush had been flattened almost in what looked like a road. The mud was pressed down, and in it marks that looked like they had been made by a tread of some kind.

"Their tank's been through here," noted Trenchoof. Elise looked up the newly carved path through the woods, and down it. She felt like using it for travel, as it would be a lot easier than walking through downed trees and overgrown plant matter.

"Suppose we should follow it?"

"Possibly," Trenchoof said, "If we can go in the opposite direction of the tank then we can wind up near the river, where it was brought ashore. It'd be REALLY easy to escape down the river! The only thing is, which way should we go?"

Elise leaned in, looking at the tank treads. She had an idea of what it would look like going forward and so she made her judgement based off of that. The pony squinted, and a moment later was confident she knew where the tank had come from, and where it was going.

"That way's our best shot," said Elise, pointing to the left. "If we follow the tracks I bet we'll reach the river's edge within the hour."

"Good call, Elise!" encouraged Trenchoof, following her lead.

****

Daring was in quite the pickle. The passage to the next chamber would not open unless she was to play whatever game the underground ball court was designed for. She quickly took the book out and read.

"Ikan loved the ball game. As a colt he had always enjoyed a game of ball, but the large scale proved dangerous. Several of the other contestants were crushed flat before they even had the chance to try for a goal. By the time the game had been played out, there were only three contestants left, Ikan being one of them and the helpful stallion from earlier another," Daring read. She closed the book and placed it back, just as a piece of the ceiling fell down. Above her she could hear the gryphons working. They wouldn't be busy for very long, she could tell. She needed to play this game of ball in order to get past, but what were the rules?

"Ok, so all I know is that there's the possibility of getting crushed in this game. What fun," Daring said to herself. The legend had said nothing about how the game was played or how to win, though the latter included making goals. Daring examined the court once more.

There was a round opening on the side of the wall, which was outlined and plated with gold. No doubt it was the goal, and there was only one of them. The sunken court was tiled on the ground, though some had cracked and dirt was showing in places. There were discs embedded into the bottom level, and doors seemed to lay on each corner of the pit.

There was a wheel laying on it's side near to where Daring was, above the court. Spokes stuck out of the side. She walked over to this, pressing against the wheel's spokes and tryign to turn it counterclockwise. It didn't budge. Daring turned, and licked her lips, throwing her weight against the spoke on the other side, now turning the wheel clockwise. This time it moved, and as Daring stepped forward she kept turning the wheel, until something rumbled deep down below her hooves. Daring took a step back, expecting something bad to happen, but nothing did. To her surprise, little did. There was a creaking sound to her left, and as the pony turned she saw the discs embedded into the court begin to spin.

"Alright, so it's active now. How do I know what I'm supposed to throw to the goal?" Daring wondered. She noticed the buttons against the wall's edge. There was five in all, two green ones on each side and one made of gold in the center. The buttons were really dyed stone of some kind, similar to the block she had pressed into the wall to activate the snake, only much smaller.

Daring approached them, and pressed each one in turn. She tried the two green ones on the right. There was a rumbling, but little happened. Nothing appeared on the court. She tried the green ones to the left. Again there was a dual rumbling, but nothing flew out onto the court. Finally, Daring pressed the gold switch in the center. This time, all of the doors slid open. To her horror, Daring saw four boulders roll out onto the court, each one the size of the one that had chased her. In the center was a small, round, golden ball. It was the ball she had to score with!

Unfortunately, that was when the gryphons began descending.

A total of three gryphons came down after her. They each held in their talons some kind of gun, and they landed almost right on top of Daring. She took the hint and dashed onto the ball court itself, chasing after the golden orb, teeth gritted. The gryhpons behind her may have been momentarily, though Daring knew they would figure it out in time.

And that they did. Within the first five seconds Daring heard shots ring out. She positioned herself on the other side of one of the rolling rocks, running around while trying not to get hit by bullets or crushed by one of the great boulders. The gryphon's inability to effectively shoot her was beginning to cause them frustration. Daring got a glimpse of one of them throwing their guns down in frustration.

They were not quitting, though. To the pony's shock, they were coming after her themselves. The three gryphons swooped over, wings spread, and circled over the pit of the ball court. Daring attempted to glance up at them, but was too busy dodging the four different boulders that were rocketing across the court to look for any significant amount of time.

With a screech, one of the gryphons began an attack run, his from talons outstretched ahead of him while his back paws were tucked in to give swifter movement through the air. Daring's eyes widened as she noticed the approaching shape. She swerved to the left, and felt the rush of air next to her as the gryphon tried to claw thin air.

Daring breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to the right again in order to get out of the path of a rock that had been headed towards her. The big form just lumbered past, rolling over one of the spinning discs and picking up momentum once again.

Daring felt a sudden stab of pain as she felt something rip through both her shirt and her skin on her back. One of the gryphons had raked his claws across the top of her back, and caused Daring to stumble.

"Gah!" the pony cried out as she was suddenly grasped by strong talons. Two of the three gryphon soldiers had grabbed onto her, and they were lifting her up kicking and screaming.

Daring fought back, lashing out with her hooves and trying to strike them. The gryphons either took the hit or jerked her around, making her strikes simply turn into mid-air flails. The pony wriggled around, and flapped her wings as hard as she could. The triangle that she and the two gryphons formed moved down suddenly, back towards the court, and she felt the stone floor rush up to meet her suddenly as she landed. She heard a screech to her side, followed by a sickening crunch. Daring turned her head to see that one of the four boulders was almost on top of her. Jumping up, Daring flew up and over the boulder, taking to the sky unhindered.

The boulder had a red streak on it, which belonged to the gryphon it had crushed a moment before. The flattened form of the soldier could be seen on the bottom of the court, his head squashed flat and his beak broken and cracked. Daring turned her eyes away from the grisly sight, only to catch the sudden motion of one of the other soldiers rushing at her for another attack. Daring yelped, and dived down onto the court where she was harder to hit. The talons of the attacking gryphon missed Daring, but struck the top of one of the rocks.The frustrated gryphon circled again from above, trying to get an attack in edgewise.

Daring had two gryphons to deal with, and she found it difficult to coordinate boulder-dodging with talon-dodging, especially since the attacks were from two different directions. Her opportunity presented itself with a gold ball that suddenly rushed across her field of vision. It was about the size of a bowling ball, and it weaved around the larger boulders erratically. Now that Daring could see the ball, she could catch it. She dashed to her right, weaving around one of the larger rocks and there on the other side was the gold ball. Daring scooped it up under one of her front legs. The goal was just above her, she could make it if she flew up there, but the other two gryphons had not let up their attacks yet.

Another sharp pang was felt on Daring's back, as another attack caused the gryphons talons to rake across her, ripping up the fabric of the shirt and cutting into her skin. Daring limped over to the right, and appeared as if she would fall over sideways for a second as she winced and gritted her teeth.

With a sudden burst of energy Daring took off skyward, and the gryphons pursued. Around the chamber they flew, closer to the edges than any of them really wanted to be. Daring's lead on the gryphons waned with every second as the larger creatures beat their wings, intent on catching her.

A round opening revealed itself as the three of them rushed along the length of the wall. The opening was lined with a type of gold, and Daring suddenly swerved towards it, plunging the gold ball into the hole. The gryphons overshot, and turned to pursue her in this direction. Daring had begun a dive towards the ground, and the gryphons followed her. Faster and faster she flew, her eyes watering. The stone floor rushed up to meet her very fast in the chamber, and so she turned sharply upwards. The soldiers cried out as they missed her yet again, one of them smashing his face into the stone.

The chamber began rumbling, and the wall on the far side split open, revealing a small passageway to another chamber. The passageway was very small, and hugged the ground. Daring swerved in midair towards it, the gryphons in pursuit. Daring dove down towards the small opening, which was only large enough for a very small pony to fit through. Daring braced herself, and rocketed through the hole, emerging on the other side in yet another chamber. The gryphons attempted to pursue, but the opening was much too small for their larger forms.

On the other side, Daring panted. She winced again, feeling the pangs in her back where she had gotten cut with the sharp claws of the soldier's talons. That had been close, way too close. The path ahead was yet another corridor. It was dark, moist, and Daring could not see very much. Fortunately, it seemed that there was a torch available to her. Resting on the side of the wall to her right was a piece of wood.

"There's nothing to light up," Daring remarked, frowning. She would have to improvise. She picked up the torch, and set it down on the ground. She then reached back and grabbed hold of the bottom of her khaki adventurer's shirt. Pulling with her hooves and making tears in the fabric, Daring was able to take a strip off from the very back of the garment, and though it was now left with ragged edges in addition to the slices and the cuts from the gryphon's talons, Daring could now wrap the top of the torch in something ignitable.

****

After what seemed like eons, the pair of ponies made it to the end of the trail. They stepped out from the brus, fully expecting to see the river and docks, but were instead greeted with a small clearing, a monstrous tank, and about twenty four armed gryphons.

"What in the blazes?" Trenchoof stuttered before being forcibly grabbed by a pair of bulky soldiers. Their claws were excellent at grasping, and breaking free from the both of them was beyond his ability, as hard as he did try.

"Elise, run!" he grunted. Elise made no movement, but stood still. Trenchoof opened his eyes and looked at her, resigned. The two stared at each other for a moment. No gryphon was attempting to grab Elise. Then, slowly, a smirk slid across the mare's face.

"You've done well," came a voice, and Gwindor himself emerged from the ranks, eyeing Elise. "Your assistance in all of this has not gone unnoticed, I assure you."

"You- you- you," Trenchoof said, stumbling over his own words. His expression was one of shock, slowly transforming into one of complete and total rage. The usually calm, collected stallion now had a vein throbbing at his temple.

"YOU TRAITOUROUS SWINE! HOW COULD YOU HELP THESE- THESE- THINGS?!" bellowed Trenchoof, looking angrily at Elsie. The blonde-maned pony took a step back, raising her eyebrows, but still wearing the same confident sneer on her face.

"There.... there's a special place in Tartarus for the traitors. I hope you realize that you've lowered yourself to that level by associating with this kind- the slime of the Earth!" Trenchoof continued, out of breath from his sudden passionate outburst. He coughed a few time, and began wheezing. None of the soldiers interrupted him, but simply waited for him to speak his piece.

"You were a great assistant. Since Hammer fell ill, you've been not only filling in his work but exceeding expectations. I had very high hopes for you. In my eyes, Elise, you had potential. But not anymore. Now I see you as you truly are: a greedy, arrogant, pretentious bitch who is fine with lowering herself to the lowest level of morality. You're conniving with the lowest of scum. I have more respect for the broken, washed up addict. I have more respect for thieves and bandits. You? You're as good as dead to me now,"

"Shut him up, I'm tired of listening to the manure coming out of his mouth," Gwindor said, and with the click of a gun that was fixated on the poor stallion's head, he stopped his rant. All he could do was sit and glare at Elise, who simply smiled back. The gryphons who were not busy containing Trenchoof now set about other tasks, preparing the tank and loading supplies (shovels, picks, gunpowder, dynamite, and surveying tools) into the back of a truck.

"What about the other one, Daring Do?" Elise asked. Gwindor turned to look at her, and scratched the bottom of his beak.

"What of her?"

"Have you and your soldiers captured her yet? She seemed to me to be quite dangerous," Elise stated. Gwindor nodded.

"She is. I've received reports that there has been an engagement. This tank team here just returned from the dig site to pick up our little Trench-squatting friend. We're going back to the dig site shortly. I would like you to try and get Daring to come out. Convince her that you and Trenchoof have got reinforcements."

"I can do that," Elise said, "But If I do, then I expect some extra compensation. The deal was for the leader, not all the various other ponies involved in this."

"That can be arranged," Gwindor said. He proceeded to explain the plan.

"We'll have the tank shrouded in branches to supplement its camoflague. She won't see it at all. What I need you to do is to lure her out, and then get her to stand on a spot we've marked in the dirt. When she's there, you'd better get your flank moving."

Comments

[Fedora]

I finished adding to this chapter, it is now fully compete! More will be on the way soon as this story approaches its epic climax!