Daring Do and the Trials of Zenith

by Fedora

The First and Second Trials

The very first chamber in the new building was simply a long corridor. Small plants and jungle flowers grew on the ground and up the walls. Daring read through a small pocket journal that she had, which was a retelling of the translated version of an ancient epic. Though supposedly fictional, many scholars believed the epic to be directly based on the so-called "Trials of Zenith", or the various tasks and hardships that competitors would have to face in order to reach their ultimate destination.

According to legend, the young colt Ikan (who had been the youngest to ever compete in the tests, only to succeed and become the greatest king the ancient pony civilization of South Equestria had ever know) had faced each of the challenges head-on, and had made it through because he was able to think outside of the box, whereas the older stallions had failed because they were close-minded. While it isn't advisable to take mythology at face value as an archaeologist, Daring felt that the story held significance to her.

"Ikan was a fast colt. He was both quick-witted and quick on his hooves," Daring read, "The other stallions laughed at him, but Ikan paid them no mind. He prepared and stretched as they spent their last nights before the trials partying. When the first event came, the sound of a thousand thundering hooves roared through the valley, with the young colt among them. Though many of the stallions were fast enough, the first speed trial claimed the lives of the lethargic and the lazy."

Daring looked around, placing the book back where it had come from in the outer pocket of the bag. She noticed that the cracked stone floor ended suddenly ahead a few yards, and was replaced by a series of equally sized hexagonal tiles that went into a twisting tunnel. Daring bent in close to look at the tiles, unsure of their significance. She lightly pressed on one with a hoof and noticed that it was slightly loose. She did not note any kind of major reaction in the surrounding environment. though she had fully expected a trap of some sort, she had not sprung it with her small gesture. Cautiously, Daring stepped out onto the first tile. She shifted her entire weight onto it quickly, and it sank down completely. Daring's ears were at attention as she listened to small noises around her. They were simply small clicking sounds, but it alerted her attention nonetheless.

Daring's gaze rose to the ceiling above her, and her eyes widened. The pony leaped forward suddenly, just in time as the first gargantuan weight crashed down behind her. It shook the corridor with a rousing crash, and Daring's heart began racing she knew exactly what was happening now, and began bolting forwards down the tunnel at full throttle. Behind her she could hear the weights falling, and the noise of the crash seemed to be getting closer and closer as she continued to dash forwards. Daring's heart was beating faster than a rabbit's as she strained herself to keep going faster. She could not afford to slow at all, for each tablet she stepped on had a line that was ever so slightly shorter than the one before it.

Daring's mouth was dry as she panted, and her throat became sore. What was only a few terrifying seconds of extreme effort seemed to prolong into minutes and minutes, but at long last the end of the hexagonal tiles appeared, and Daring leaped out from the tunnel, and into another chamber. She felt exhausted from the sudden sprint, and she could feel a vein pulsing in her temple. Sliding onto the moist stone floor, Daring felt like resting for a short moment in the safety of this new area- a room that was much wider than a corridor. She took a few steps away from the center, leaning up against the statue of a pony chief that was placed against the wall. Daring took out her canteen and drank from it, enjoying the cleansing feeling of the cool water running down her parched throat. She hadn't really been prepared for that last part, she would need to pay closer attention to clues given both through the story and through observation of the area.

Suddenly there was another loud crash, very close to Daring. The pony was jolted from her state of semi-rest as another large weight crashed down next to the statue, just opposite Daring. It seemed like there was to be no rest for the weary after all.

****

"Get your dirty claws OFF of me!" was the shrill shout that woke Trenchoof from his dozing sleep. He looked up to see a chair being dragged into the tent with him, and on it a grayish pony. As Elise continues to struggle the gryphons thrust the chair down, and left the tent almost as quickly as they came.

"Well, how was that?" Trenchoof asked. Elise was shaking, almost as if she was crying. Her chair was faced away from Trenchoof's and she could not make any kind of eye contact with the sergeant. She heaved in several deep breaths, and it seemed to calm her down enough so that she could calmly talk to the other pony.

"The g-g-gryphons........ why?"

"It's ok, Elise," said Trenchoof, offering whatever kind of verbal reassurance he could.

"D-d-did they ask you anything?"

"No, they didn't ask me much at all," Trenchoof said, "Though I found out some stuff about them, trivial stuff. What'd they ask you?"

"They asked me about D-d-daring," stuttered Elise, still visibly shaken, "When I told them that I didn't know, they didn't believe me. They got very mean."

Trenchoof sighed. He had heard some talk about Daring, and according to Gwindor a team had been dispatched to find her, only to have several of them wind up dying. He hadn't expected that out of Daring.

"I didn't know very much about Daring," said Elise, taking deep breaths, "Why do they want her? What information are they after?"

"Well," said Trenchoof as he thought about it, "their plans seemed to account for disrupting our entire operation here. My guess is that they planned on keeping us here until their dig was over, and then sending us back home or something. I think they just wanted us completely out of the way while they analysed the ruins, so that they could ensure they'd get there first."

"And.... Daring?"

"Well," Trenchoof continued, "She obviously escaped, or wasn't caught along with the rest of us in the first place. She's the only one who the gryphons didn't catch last night, and I'm betting she's been giving them a hard time all morning. With any luck, she's gone to the city to call in some help."

"The city is miles and miles away, though," Elise mumbled, "I don't think she's gone all the way there yet, she might not even be headed there at all... how do you know her, again?"

"I don't," was Trenchoof's simple reply, "She came highly recommended by the museum, and I went with the suggestion. She's got a good track record, too. I mean, from an academic standpoint she's competent, but she's been around the world on digs and retrieving stuff, sometimes by herself. I also knew her father."

"Her father?"

"Yeah, old Mr. Brazen Do. I knew him from my time in the service, he and I were both part of the same company. He's a little bit older than I am, I think, but not by too much. He mentioned that he had a wife and a filly back at home- must've been Daring and her mother."

Trenchoof blinked a couple of times. He motioned for Elise to quiet down, and they both strained their ears. In the distance was the low humming of engines, and light chatter by some of the soldiers. Some of the engine noises were already growing quieter. Some of the gryphons were leaving.

"Elise, I need to ask, can you move at all?" asked Trenchoof. Elise nodded, her yellowish mane flopping down over her eyes. She blew it out of the way.

"Good. I see that one of the guards left an empty bottle on that desk behind you. If you can tip it over, see if you can break it. We can use the glass shards to cut through the rope."

"You're gonna try to escape?" mouthed Elise, raising an eyebrow. Trenchoof nodded.

****

Daring grunted and strained as she threw all of her weight into sliding the heavy statue along the ground. The stone pony was not attached to the floor, but its heavy weight made it quite a challenge to move. She tried her back, and she tried pressing forwards. The statue moved inch by inch, slowly but surely, until Daring was confident that it was underneath the weight that was once again resting on the ceiling. Daring took a step back, and wiped the sweat off from her face. She pressed her flank against the switch on the wall, the one which she had accidentally leaned against earlier and set the crashing weight down. This time, the gigantic stone weight fell, and Daring was prepared for it.

When it fell, it crushed the stone statue like it was paper. The head of the statue was detached from the rest, and most of the body was cracked and crumbled into gravel. The large stone weight actually had a face on it, now that Daring took a moment to look. It was a pony's face, contorted with rage and with widened eyes carved into the rock.

As Daring released the switch the rock was brought back up to the ceiling. The crushed form of the statue lay beneath it's shadow, but that wasn't Daring's concern. It was the head that she was after, and she found it only a few yards away.

The pony wrapped her front legs around it, and strained to pick it up. It was very uncomfortable to carry, especially when if forced her to walk using only her back legs, which was a very unsteady and discomforting way to walk. Daring set the statue's head down for a second. There had to be an easier way about this. The story had been about thinking outside the box, after all.

Looking around, Daring took a notice of everything in the wider chamber. There was a passageway beyond that was blocked by a very large spherical stone, not much unlike the one she had seen before. There were also swinging stones in the shape of unicorn's heads, also very similar to the one she had seen earlier. However, there were three of them, and they were swinging across the room horizontally. She had a hunch that if she could get them to either stop moving or to move in a direction perpendicular to their present course, then she could try to crack the stone blocking the path.

Daring kicked the statue's head with a hoof. This caused it to move slightly, and she decided that pushing it was much less of a wasted effort. There was a structure on the side of the chamber that looked like a half of a pipe, with a visible water flow down it. Daring consulted the small book for a moment, and read.

"Ikan's second trial pitted him against the big, buff stallions. He was not required to fight them, but rather to compete in a show of physical brawn. Many of the stallions tried to break the barrier with their own hooves, but they were unsuccessful. Ikan decided to ask one of them for help, and though it took several tries, he was finally able to bring one of the stallions over. The two had to work together, one stopping the flow with his hoof while the other bucked, and they were able to crack the barrier and allow all to pass on." Daring read. She looked back to the water flow.

"There's not any kind of illustration to help me out, but I'm willing to bet that the half-pipe is the flow the story refers to," she said to herself, "Only I don't have anypony else to back me up."

That's where the statue's head came in. Daring pushed against it. It was in the shape of a pony's head, and was not in the best shape to be rolled, but it did make it's way where she pushed albeit clumsily.

Once it was on the side, directly below the half-pipe, Daring braced herself and began lifting the head. The stone shape did not fit entierely into the half-pipe, but it was able to lodge itself in and stop up the flow of water. The water began pouring out from the sides of the half-pipe, and very little was going through to the other side, where the water had previously flowed into the wall. Daring looked up hopefully, and was happy to see that the stones had slowed in their swinging, a couple even stopping altogether.

Moving quickly, Daring got behind the now-hanging stones. They lined up perfectly when they weren't swinging, forming a straight line for the boulder that blocked the way. Taking out her whip, Daring slipped the chain around her hoof, and then proceeded to crack it, catching the end of the whip around the rope that suspended the rock nearest to her from the ceiling.

Daring tugged back, and just as before the rock came back with her. Daring had more space to wind back, and she took advantage of it. The story had mentioned bucking, but she felt this was a much better way to get the momentum. Daring flapped her wings, tugging at her whip and bringing the stone even farther back, until she felt she was as far as it would take her. She made a sharp upwards motion with her hoof, and the whip detached itself.

Almost on cue the stone began swinging in the opposite direction, picking up momentum on it's downwards swing. It slammed into the next one, which in turn began moving, which then hit the next one. The last stone in the line swung and hit the boulder square on, causing a loud sound and resulting in a crack forming. The crack spread down the middle of the spherical boulder, and within a moment it had cracked in two, revealing a gap through which Daring could now pass on to the next area. Daring grinned, and drank from her canteen.