Éclair Crème's adventure

by Silver Letter

Daring Do and the Stone of Agony (part 2)

The three has begun a difficult journey north into the mountains. Despite the inhospitable nature of the land, the Yaks know it well. They built a system of roads that are open most of the time during warmer periods. The King loves to go to his winter abode or so Little Freddy had mentioned. Of course he has never been there but most Yaks would have heard of it and he had listened in to enough of the guards casually reference their first journeys north past the glacial caves and the snow monster crevasses, named so for their uncanny resemblance to the wounds left by a monster’s deadly claws. The stories don’t faze Daring Do. She is obviously as indomitable as the mountains themselves. She is the leader, walking on the thick snow in her snowshoes. During blistering gales, the three huddle in tents or caves. With the yak child, they are assured that there’s no monster waiting for them inside. Little Freddy could literally smell one a mile off.
After days, Little Freddy points towards a spire of blue crystal jutting out of a mountainside. Only a thin ribbon courses its way around a sheer cliff towards the perilously set fortification.

“That’s it! The King’s abode,” he says loudly as to be heard over the howling wind.

Daring Do looks over at the abyss then at the palace. “Thanks, little guy. I think it would be good for both of you to turn back now. If things get a little hairy in there, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“No! I didn’t come all the way here for nothing.”

Éclair pats his head to calm him. “Daring, we should at least go get a look. Besides, he’s a king. He’ll grant us welcome, surely?”

Daring grumbles. “If I’m right about this dangerous weapon and they are willing to use it against Equestria then I find it hard to believe that he would do anything but keep you prisoner, Éclair.” The adventurer looks at her seriously. “I know you want to help but you might want to know if you’re getting in over your head.”

To the surprise of the others and even herself, Éclair shakes her head firmly with her muzzle aimed high like she does back home. “No, I will not take my leave.”

Daring tenses up her body, tightens up her wings, not expecting such a bold defiance. “You really not going to take my advice?”

“I remember that in one of your recent books, you were paired with an inexperienced Pegasus named Rainbow Dash. You didn’t give her a chance either but she proved herself to you and helped you to stop your arch nemesis!”

Daring must be pissed but she is unable to refute her. “I shouldn’t have written that book,” she moans in exasperation, a hoof covering her face.

As they walk, Éclair thinks about things. She has been telling herself the whole time that she’s doing this for her own chance to own a bit of adventure but maybe a little part of her just wants to be a part of a day in the life of Daring Do? Just like she couldn’t tell where her life was in a constant slip between galas and parties back at the capital, could she tell where her adventure ends and Daring’s begin? Does it even matter if she could just prove the whole world wrong? Éclair Crème was an adventurer though and though. The companion of Daring Do.

---

Later, the three of them sneak up to the palace walls. There seems to be nobody on watch as they obviously thought that none would be able to find it due to the silence of the Yaks and the remote location itself. Daring carries Éclair up to a window up high then goes back for Little Freddy. She is able to fly for a brief period but is nearly helpless against the high winds that thrives so high up in the mountains. It is rather rare for weather to do this on its own and from the high vantage point, Éclair can gaze in awe at the system of storms she had never witnessed before in her life. But it does make sense as this isn’t the realm of ponies so the Yaks have nobody to tend to the skies.
Inside, provisions are stacked up to the ceiling: grains, liquor, pallets of various stuff abound in the storeroom. They tread about quietly. What few guards are about are sitting around, dozing off, the halls echoing with their snoring.

“Yaks…” Daring murmurs.

Down two floors, the temperature gets warmer.

“Are they using a temperature spell?” Éclair asks.

“I don’t know. They can’t use magic but who knows what the King is capable of,” Daring says.

The steps that lead from one wing to the other are made of blue marble. The banister is laden with gold. This is not a temporary place but something that’s existed for perhaps centuries. Éclair wants to stop and admire the things and even touch them but she has to focus. They have a mission to do! A mission with the most awesome adventurer that has ever lived! It’s still hard for her to believe that it’s true and not a kind of dream. She’s not even worthy but is literally walking the hoof prints of the amazing mare. She keeps the squeals inside as they keep going.

As things get hotter, Éclair wants to take off her coat. Even Daring fans herself with that hat of hers. She scans each room meticulously, perhaps looking for the faint tell of a deadly trap. But there are none. She carries them up to a catwalk that goes over a large chamber that’s probably in the core of the palace. They are up in the rafters and Daring lies on her belly. Below are a group of Yaks holding ceremonial candles all facing the King himself. The room is dimly lit by torches. In the center, is a crystal ball which suddenly glows with a bright green. With it, the three of them could catch a glimpse of the King’s stony face and long black beard. In his grasp, a tall golden staff is capped with a piece of stone which looks like lava from the pits of Tartarus.

“Whoa…that’s it,” Daring whispers through her teeth. She already looks ready to pounce on the Yaks. One of them wears a beautiful crimson sash, the prince of the Yaks, Prince Rutherford.

“What’s it?” Little Freddy replies. His eyes are as wide as saucers at the collection of royalty down below.

“It’s what I’ve been searching for…”

A booming voice cuts her off, radiating from the crystal ball.

“What is your progress with the grand plans?” it says. Most of the Yaks seem put off by the insect-like voice except the prince and the King himself.

“We await your arrival in the Frozen North. For these last months since the plans to reopen trade with Equestria, they’ve been susceptible to our calls for friendship and have lowered their guard. And since then, we’ve collected much in the way of great power. We’ve followed your ways and gave all our anger to the gift you’ve given us and it has fed from us greatly,” the King says, his voice especially heavy and vocabulary even better than Little Freddy’s.

“Then everything has come to pass as I have foreseen. Stay true, Yaks. We will destroy the Crystal Heart and you will rule over all the north once more!” the ball replies with a great cackle.

“Time to go to work,” Daring says confidently. She leaps down and lands behind the Yaks. The King rises, the staff slamming on the steps of his throne. The others turn with burning hatred in their eyes. Even the crystal ball notices and it laughs harder.

“And will you dispose of that Daring Do for me?” The magic dissipates from the ball and the room falls silent for a moment.

“Aww…your friend had to chat and run?” Daring says with a smirk.

“Impetuous rat!” the King bellows. “Crush her!”

Little Freddy tugs at Éclair’s hat. “We should go help,” he says worryingly.

“No, we can’t go. We might look the part but we’re not the same as Daring. She’ll fight them off. I’m sure of it.” Despite her words, Éclair grows tenser with each second.

“First tell me what you’re doing with the Stone of Agony!” Daring demands.

“It will free us from this mountain prison of ours,” the King says. “With each burst of anger, we grow stronger. We are told that it will overcome the Crystal Heart and once we destroy it, we will rule over all the land.”

“Who told you!?”

“That’s none of your business,” the King spits.

Daring suddenly has to defend herself from several Yaks at once. Rutherford keeps back to protect the King, watching as the mare backflips and delivers punishing blows to the guards.

Little Freddy tugs at Éclair’s arm and forces her to follow him.

“C’mon. There must be a way down somehow,” he says as they race down a narrow staircase. “We have to take that staff.”

“But why? What can it do?” Éclair says.

The child pants from the exertion. “I thought it was just a legend that our grandparents would tell us. The Stone of Agony was this thing that personifies the way my people are always so angry all the time. Like the Crystal Heart, it feeds on our emotions but it was always a source of destruction. If he has fed it enough, it could very well do unbelievable damage to your pony city!”

They make their way around a corner and towards the back of the room through a side entrance. On sight, the two royal Yaks turn and face them. The King has a toothy snarl like a predator.

“Seize them!” he cries. The prince is upon them in a flash. Little Freddy pushes Éclair out of the way and in doing so, is thrown against the polished wall with an awful crack. Éclair falls back and catches her breath. She watches on horribly as the prince beats the poor child with his hooves. His little mouth is bloody.

“Stop, you stupid barbarian!” Daring shouts. The King rises and scoops up Éclair in his arm and holds her by her coat. Éclair is too terrified to even squirm.

“Enough! Surrender or else I’ll kill her with the staff!” The Stone of Agony spins tremendously fast with a great red aura. Daring hesitates for a moment and watches. It’s enough time for her to be struck in the head and captured.

---

Éclair looks at Little Freddy. His eyes are closed and his breaths are shallow. She wishes to reach out and embrace him but there’s nothing she can do. The King is gazing at the distant mountains and the prince is holding Daring in a powerful bind. The adventurer is furious and her eyes are daggers.

“Behold the power of the Stone of Agony!”

The King holds out the staff. From the spinning stone, the hate it has captured forms a great meteor; going at great speed, it slams into the mountainside. From here, it could be seen that a great chaos is occurring out there. Clouds are blown away and thousands of trees reduced to toothpicks. Éclair can’t watch. A single tear runs down her cheek.

“Stop it! Do you even know what you’re doing, idiot!?” Daring says.

The prince drags her over to the staff. “You go take staff now!” he tells her. “You so wise?! Show us we’re wrong!”

Daring doesn’t hesitate and seizes it with a hoof. But instead of it calming, it intensifies, sending even more ruin upon the land. Daring lets go and drops to her knees. An utterly powerless look washes over her face.

The King laughs. “You are no match for the Stone of Agony!” He looks towards the Crystal Empire in the distance. “And neither is the Crystal heart.”

Éclair crawls over towards Little Freddy and touches his coat. Poor, poor Yak, she thinks. No…poor friend! She sobs and hangs her head. The prince notices and goes to her.

“I give little whelp beating. Her anger must be tenfold of winged pony!” he says.

“Bring her here,” the King orders.

The prince does so and they have to lift her arms to touch the golden staff. There is a myriad of feelings that Éclair could choose to grasp if she wishes. She could decide to hate the two Yak leaders, to spite them, to fear them, to hope for their deaths. But instead of all that, there’s a feeling coursing through her mind that neither of them expects. Éclair chooses the only thing that matters to her at that very moment. The emotion tied to her new friend, the poor Yak lying on the cold floor. She knows in her heart that her friendship is born of love, of the time spent together forging something special. It’s this feeling that prevents her from hating the Yaks because if she did so, she would have to hate her friend and she could never bring herself to do that no matter what.

If so, the antithesis of hate chokes the life out of the stone. It stops and turns solid like a heart that has stopped beating but so fast that it creates a shockwave, a force which blows away the two royals. The King drops the staff as he stumbles over the side and plunges to his death, screaming the whole way. The prince runs to the edge but can do nothing.

Before Éclair knows it, she is hugged from behind by her friend, Little Freddy.

“You’re okay?” she says in disbelief.

“I’m more than okay. I mean, I feel better than ever! This must have been the power of your friendship. It stopped the Stone of Agony!” Éclair is totally speechless and can’t reply.

The prince roars. “You will all die! DIE!!”

Daring grabs the staff and takes them both in her arms. “Yeah, let’s get out of here!” She jumps from the tower and winces from their weight but manages to glide all the way to the foot of the tower. From there, they hurry down the mountain to avoid any pursuit sent by the prince to capture them.

Unbeknownst to them, at the edge of the Empire, an army of changelings watches the rivers which feeds the lower regions burst like severed veins. All the melted snow of the mountains has caused millions of tons of debris to fall and a great wave approaches the city. The queen herself admires the destruction which hate can cause and yet, she knows that the true power lies within the city. She is here for one purpose only and that is to gain her revenge against Princess Cadance.

Author's Note:

If people ask, I'll consider making the next part of this story where Eclair goes into the city as the changelings invade. If people are interested in her adventure. As always if people don't like my pony story for whatever reason, please note here why that is the case and maybe give me improvement tips and such. But, no refunds! :grandpagruff: