Chapter 8: Deserts, Caves, and Lightning Raves
“Velvet, look out!”
Twilight Velvet gasped. Her heart fell out of step, her eyes wide, but it was too late.
She looked up just in time to conk her head onto a long gnarled stalactite.
The notebook she'd been carrying with her telekinesis fell to the floor as her magic fizzled, plunging the cavern into darkness. Velvet rubbed her forehead and groaned, the rocky floor of the cavern scraping her rump. When she got up and relit her horn, Daring's frowning visage was the first thing to come into view. In response, Velvet folded her ears and let out a nervous chuckle.
“Sorry, just…writing your notes down for posterity!”
Daring looked away and continued down the cavern, her trademark low-pitched grumble reverberating off the walls. “Keep up or I'm leaving you behind.”
Velvet dusted herself. “Jeez, and I thought you were only pretending not to like me,” she muttered while catching up with Daring, saddlebags shuffling behind her back.
Her motorcycle had taken the duo past rock outcroppings of various sizes, sparse fields populated by spiny desert plants, and wide stretches of nothing but rocks and sand. Now they were starting down a cavern leading down Celestia-Knows-Where, the last outside rays of light disappearing behind another crooked stalactite as the two ponies rounded a corner. Seemed like they were headed to a back door to Tartarus?
The sensation of Daring's wings brushing her loins caused Velvet's fur to stand.
“Headlamp, please.”
Velvet reached into her saddlebags and mouthed the light to Daring. “I can make my horn light brighter, you know,” she said once her mouth was free of the device.
“I'd rather you save your magic for when we really need it.”
A long period of silence followed. Without the distraction of her notebook, Velvet's eyes were more attuned to avoiding the various branched, forked rock formations scattered around the cave.
“So what are we looking for exactly? You didn't tell me back in the train—just that we needed to go here before looking for the Spectrum.”
“Indra's Bow, or at least, a piece of it,” Daring said. “Meadowbrook the Fourth made a beacon artifact to locate the Spectrum in case it got lost. Course, things are never easy, and Gallant True's notebook says that somepony split Indra's Bow into three pieces long ago. He found two in the Orient, but he never found the third.”
Velvet raised her eyebrow. “The Orient? Isn't that across the Luna Oceans? Why are we here then?”
“Because after trying to look for the Spectrum, Gallant True visited this area and noted some odd phenomena, like the rampant thunderstorms at night.” Daring sighed. “He didn't say much in his notes, though, and the local buffalo refused to talk to him about it.”
“Sounds like he hit a dead end,” suggested Velvet.
“Not exactly. It wouldn't be the first time he stopped a quest because there weren't enough plants to satisfy his botanist itch.”
A few yards of walking later, they came upon a deep, vertical shaft. As Daring surveyed its depth with her lamp, Velvet kicked some pebbles down, watching as they were swallowed by the darkness. Though it only took a third of a minute for the sound of the pebbles grinding and clacking on the ground to echo back to Velvet's ears, it was long enough to make her crease her eyebrows.
“Not too high, but I don't want to risk it,” muttered Daring. She took a rope and a grappling hook from Velvet's saddlebags, then dumped a harness on the ground in front of Velvet. “Here, put this on.”
Velvet took the harness with her magic. “I guess this is the part where I clip myself to the small end of the figure-eight belay, right?”
“Sounds like someone's been paying attention in class,” Daring said while winding the rope around two wide rock outcrops. The light from her headlamp flickered as Velvet focused on Daring's hooves and wings. They dexterously crafted knots, bringing order to the once-chaotic tangle of ropes. Velvet recognized none of the knots; Daring hadn't taught her how to make those in the train.
“Does this mean I get a Gold Star, Ma'am Daring?” Velvet's voice squeaked, a byproduct of putting on her best little filly impression.
“No.”
“Aw, brighten up a bit!”
“Maybe you'd like some detention, huh? How about that?”
“Ooh, have I been a naughty filly?”
“Yes, and now the naughty little filly needs to pay attention or she'll be a stain on the ground.”
After Daring had set up the anchor and Velvet had looped the rope through her belay and carabiners, Velvet got on her hind legs and tugged the ropes wrapping both sides of her waist. “Left hoof for feeding; right hoof for braking,” she whispered as she inched backwards into the shaft.
An icy draft howled through her ears. Velvet shut her eyes, grit her teeth, and strangled the rope.
“Q-quit being such a wuss. Twilight.” The words came out chattered, both from cold and from fear. “The Fillydelphia Motocross Trials? Pfft, compared to that, this is a walk in the park.”
Velvet looked down the shaft to face Daring. Maybe some company would help calm the shaky nerves. “Hey, Daring! Isn't there supposed to be a backup rope or–”
Her eyes caught the golden pegasus descending the shaft. Her headlamp was switched off. Her beige pith helmet taunted Velvet before it and its owner were swallowed up in the darkness. Another updraft chilled Velvet's skin and whispered into her ears, even as the rope creaked above her. None of these things fazed Velvet this time, however: she was too busy gazing down the abyss Daring had vanished into, eyebrows furrowed and teeth gritted.
“Oh, I see how it is!” Velvet called down the shaft. “Thanks for looking out for me!” She gripped onto the rope and steadied herself, uttering a string of curses for the rest of the way down.
After she'd reached the bottom and released herself from the rope, Velvet huffed and fell on her back. The rocks on the ground, having gone through years without contact from the outside world, responded to their intruder by chafing the skin on her back. The sensation didn't even register in her mind; she was too busy groaning from her burning, fatigued legs.
“Hey, Vel!” Daring's voice echoed throughout the tunnel. “Get over here! You've got to see this.”
Fighting the fatigue, Velvet picked herself up and scuttled down the cave to the direction of the voice. A moving cone of light peeked out from another crooked stalactite as she rounded a corner. Headlamp—Daring was close by.
She got to Daring in time to see her crack a chemical light stick and toss it aside. A neon green hue illuminated the current portion of the cave: some kind of natural antechamber, given the relatively wide space compared to the earlier narrower corridors. Not every part of the chamber was lit, however. Velvet noted several rock formations—most as tall as she was—scattered throughout the floor and the sharp shadows they cast on the walls. Focusing on one particular shadow, she noted that the rock formations were pony-like not just in height, but in appearance.
“Wow…” Velvet's eyes shimmered, scoping her surroundings while slowing to a walk. “So what exactly are we looking at here? Some kind of ancient civilization's attempt at sculpture?"
Daring shook her head. “Not sculpture.”
Her hoof gestured to one pegasus-shaped rock. Unlike the other rocks, this one wore a brown shirt, though Velvet couldn't tell whether that was the original color. Eyes narrowing, Daring snagged the discolored, tattered fabric. “I'm no sculptor, but I'm pretty sure that if I were, I'd save the tattered clothes for a starving artist like myself, not let my creations wear them.”
“So you're saying…”
“Yes.” Daring directed the beam of her headlamp to the pegasus's vaguely decipherable expression: an agonized scream immortalized in stone.
“We weren't the first ponies to explore this place.”
Daring started down a tunnel, leaving Velvet standing alongside the pegasus rock and ruminating on her words. As the beam from Daring's headlamp began to fade, Velvet's fur stood on end. Her ears picked up a slight buzz in the air—high-pitched, almost like radio static. It would have been a familiar, almost reassuring sound to the technologically inclined unicorn…
…if she knew where the sound was coming from.
And if the sound didn't have the slightest tinge of coherent speech.
The buzz was not a consistent hum of random noise. It had a certain rhythm to it, and Velvet could almost make out consonants in its tone. It was garbled, or otherwise in a language she didn't know. Daring and Velvet didn't have any radios, or heck, anything that the latter could feasibly see as transmitting sound.
Velvet's ears folded back, and she began to canter silently towards Daring's direction. Time to haul ass before the demented artist who lurked in this place could reach out and touch them.
It wasn't long before Velvet caught up with Daring and grabbed her shirt. “Hey! Hey, Daring!” Velvet whispered. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Some kind of buzzing sound; it was—”
Velvet stopped. The buzzing “voice” was gone, replaced only by the cave's characteristic howling. Meanwhile, Daring turned to Velvet, gave her the stink-eye, and continued walking.
“But…what…where did—”
“Save your hallucinations until after we get out of here, all right?”
Velvet kept up, passing by an earth pony statue as she trailed behind Daring. Maybe Daring was right. Velvet's legs continued to shake despite her best efforts.
Something crossed the lower corner of Velvet's field of view. After passing by another earth pony statue, the unicorn sat on the floor and lit her horn, bathing the cave in dim magenta light. Not too bright—she needed to save her magic after all.
The something, it turned out, was a heavyset statue with cloven hooves. The creature was lying on the floor, three legs on the floor and one leg raised upwards, like it was shielding its eyes. There was a gaping hole on its back—hasty tomb robbers, probably. Two horns protruded from both sides of the statue's head, a dead giveaway to its identity.
“Daring, take a look at this.”
Velvet reflexively shielded herself from the beam of Daring's headlamp as the pegasus walked up to her. She sat beside Velvet and adjusted the beam to cover a wider area, her mouth opening in fascination before she spoke.
“It's…it's a buffalo.”
Daring took her trowel from its holster and dug through the sand around the buffalo's neck, unearthing a light blue necklace. Taking the necklace on the trowel blade, she brought it in for a closer look.
“Look at these turquoise beads. The craftsmareship…this must be 16th century at the oldest.”
While Daring's eyes remained glued to the necklace, Velvet sniffed the air. Her snout wrinkled and her eyebrows furrowed. Her nose traced the strong pungent odor, not unlike one from an electrical generator to one of the branched rock formations by the statue, which she illuminated by upping her horn's light intensity a notch.
Not only was the branched rock hollow, it was also glassy on the inside, twinkling along with Velvet's eyes.
Velvet turned again to the cavity on the buffalo's back.
“Hmm…”
Daring was ambushed from behind.
“Hey!” grunted Daring as Velvet grabbed her head and shoved it down the cavity on the buffalo. “What are you—”
“Smell it,” whispered Velvet.
Daring's face contorted into a confused frown.
“It's good for the heart…”
A growl emanated from Daring's closed mouth and echoed through the cave.
“Seriously, just trust me on this one. It'll make sense.”
The sound of two sniffles told Velvet that Daring had complied. Upon being released from Velvet's hooves, Daring sat up and stared at Velvet.
“Ozone.”
“Bingo!” Velvet touched Daring's snout. “Gold Star!”
Daring creased her eyebrows and glared daggers at Velvet, who responded with a cheeky grin.
“Aaaaanyway… I'm surprised you know what ozone smells like,” said Velvet after putting her hoof down. “I was half-expecting you to ask me what you were sniffing.”
“Pegasus, remember? You're not the only one who can shoot lightning around here.” Daring put a hoof behind her neck. “Haven't done it since I was thirteen, though I still remember the smell.”
“That's not all.” Velvet pointed her horn light at the cavity on the buffalo's back. “See that?”
A shimmer caught both Velvet and Daring's eyes. The latter pony leaned closer, focused the beam of her headlamp, and widened her eyes.
“This is…this is fulgurite!” declared Daring.
“Wha… come again?” Velvet cocked her head.
Daring stood up. “Fulgurite—it's…it's a type of mineraloid formed when lightning strikes sand or rock and melts it into a glass-like tube. I used to make these all the time in the beach when I was a filly.”
With her magic, Velvet swiped a broken piece of the branched rock formation from the ground and levitated it in front of Daring “You mean like this?”
“Sort of.” She put a hoof to her chin and creased her eyebrows at the piece of broken rock. "This fulgurite doesn't look natural, though. Doesn't even look like the result of normal pegasus magic—much too crystalline."
“You've got to be kidding me.” Velvet scratched her mane as she connected the dots. “You mean that somehow, lightning was bouncing around the walls of an underground cave?”
“And I have a hunch that whatever made that lightning also turned these creatures into stone.” Daring drove the point home with her hoof.
“Hold up.” Velvet put her hoof to her chin. “I just thought of something. The half-life of ozone in air is several hours or a few days at most. Doesn't that mean that whatever made that lightning is still around?”
A faint buzz filled the air again. Daring's ear twitched.
“Sounds like you weren't hallucinating, kid.”
Velvet backed away, her eyes darting around the ceiling while looking for the source of the buzz. The sensation of something rocky connecting with her leg, followed by a crumbling sound, caused Velvet to turn around.
She'd chipped one of the earth pony statues they passed by earlier.
Something glowed from inside the statue. Velvet galloped towards Daring as the entire statue began to crumble. Multicolored sparks arced all over its surface, while a bright white light with a tinge of yellow billowed out of the growing cracks. One of the sparks burst from the earth pony's chest and struck the statue of a pegasus, then a bison, then a second pegasus. An unholy snarling noise echoed through the cave as a webwork of aetheric electricity blocked the way back to the entrance.
Velvet and Daring crept backwards. The latter bit her lip.
“That's probably bad…”
A blue arc slammed the rock above, showering the ponies with stones. The ponies flinched. A bolt of electricity came hurtling towards them, prompting Daring to take to the air and fly deeper into the tunnel.
“Run!”
Countless discharges thundered and echoed behind the duo. Arcs of various colors snaked forward by jumping between statues and rock formations alike. The earth shook all around Velvet. She struggled to keep her footing. Her ears folded, beaten to submission by the literally thunderous cacophony. A flash revealed a pony statue right beside her, causing her to duck just as an arc connected to it and blew it to pieces.
“Watch it! Don't get close to the other statues!”
A pile of rocks came to view. The only way through was a small hole at the top. Daring flew through easily, while Velvet had to clamber upwards and squeeze through, rocks sliding out from under her hooves.
She slipped. Her body tumbled to the other side of the rock pile.
Daring didn't stop for her. The pegasus disappeared behind a left turn several yards away.
“Wait!”
The sound of crumbling rocks caused Velvet to scamper forward. She'd only gotten a few feet forward when the sound of an arc crackling behind her reached her ears. Something snagged her tail. Velvet rolled on her back to focus on the offending weight.
A white glow seared through Velvet's retinas, covering an increasingly larger area of her tail. In their wake, soft, white and purple fibers solidified into hardened, gnarled masses of brown rock.
“Wha… Ahhh! Holy shit!”
Velvet tried to back away, but her tail seemed to fuse with the floor. Her horn glowed. She grit her teeth and held back a scream as she tried to pull the hairs out with her telekinesis.
Her hair held together. This wasn't going to cut it.
“Damn it! Where's a barber when you need one?!”
Velvet looked up. Give or take a few sparks, the pile of rocks she'd vaulted over seemed to impede most of the thunderous cascade of lightning. With every earth-shaking roar and flash, however, the collective blizzard of sparks made its murderous intentions known. There wasn't much time.
She used a heating spell to separate herself from her rapidly petrifying tail. It worked…too slowly. A quarter of her once long flowing tail had now been turned to stone, and the heating spell hadn't even transected half that distance. Such magic needed to be slow going, as much as it pained Velvet. Too fast, and it would just set her entire tail on fire.
A bolt of lightning shattered a rock, the rubble showering the ground beside Velvet.
“Oh crap! Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!”
Dust kicked itself up at Velvet's right. Shielding her eyes momentarily, Velvet looked up.
“Velvet, get back!”
“Daring?” Velvet could barely keep herself from hyperventilating. “For Celestia's sake, where were you, taking a bathroom break?! Stop leaving me behind!”
“I told you to lay off the eclairs!"
"Just shut up and GET ME OUTTA HERE!!"
Velvet watched the master's trowel make short work of her tail. Each blow sliced off several hairs, the blade grinding on the ground all the while. A lightning bolt shattered another rock. A piece struck Daring in the ribs, but she barely flinched. Was it adrenaline? Experience? Velvet didn't know.
Taking to the air, the pegasus yanked Velvet's hoof upwards.
“You're good. On your hooves!”
For the next several minutes, Velvet ran on autopilot—tunnel vision, in more ways than one. The shaking of the earth, the intermittent flashes of light, the deafening thunder, the pang on her belly, the fire in her legs—all pushed out of focus. Only one thought stood at the forefront.
Can't…get…left behind again!
She was so dead-set on keeping up with Daring that she failed to notice the ground disappear.
Daring grabbed Velvet's hind legs. “Whoa whoa whoa, stop!”
The blood rushed to Velvet's head. She fell forward and found herself staring at an abyss. The abyss stared back and bore its teeth: a wide collection of sharp stalagmites, complete with a skeleton wedged between.
The tug of Daring's forelegs sent Velvet hurtling back to safety. At the other side of the abyss, the neon green glow of chemical light sticks taunted her. The chasm was too wide to jump across.
"Shit!" Darting her head around, Velvet put her hooves to her mane. "Can't you carry me across?!"
"Not when we're weighed down with these saddlebags, I can't! And we're not leaving our stuff behind!"
Luckily, Daring had other courses of action in mind. She unfurled her whip and snagged it at a gnarled root on the ceiling in one swift, smooth motion. A puff of air escaped Velvet's mouth as Daring shoved the handle of the whip at her side.
“Grab onto it!”
Velvet's eyes traced the handle of the whip to its tip. Sand sifted and fell from a root on the ceiling.
“Are you nuts? That thing isn't going to hold me!”
Thunder and crumbling caused both mares to look down the tunnel where they came from. Rocks and pebbles flew in the air. The flashes of light brightened. The arcs were closing in.
“Argue later!” Daring took flight and flew to the chemical light sticks. “See you on the other side!”
Velvet's ears folded as she was left holding the handle of the whip. Gritting her teeth, she took one last look at the electric tsunami and decided she didn't want an encore of their performance.
Velvet closed her eyes, bent her back knees, and grasped the whip.
She stepped off.
“Oh craaaaaaap!! Oof!”
The wind howled across Velvet's ears for half a second. A hard landing knocked the wind out of her lungs and scraped her forelegs. Velvet instinctively wiggled her back legs.
There was no ground below them.
Daring managed to snatch Velvet's front hoof. Grunting, the pegasus flapped her wings as she pulled Velvet up to her hooves. A flash from the lightning avalanche highlighted the shadow of Daring's whip, twisting out of the root with every strike.
The whip dislodged. It fell into the chasm. Daring's eyes widened.
Reacting quickly, Velvet caught the whip with her magic just before it joined the skeleton in the stalagmites below.
“Unicorn, remember?!” echoed Velvet, her smile and her voice quivering from both fear and adrenaline. “Just making myself useful!”
As the two mares galloped away, the cacophonous cascade of thunderclaps subsided. Seconds passed by without a single flash of light, arc of electricity, or heck, even a gnarled rock formation or petrified creature. The two ponies slowed to a canter, and Velvet could finally hear herself think, not to mention her body trying to put the brakes on her heartbeat.
Velvet leaned on the cave wall and panted. “H-hey,” she huffed out while reaching a hoof towards Daring, “can…can we stop for a while?”
Daring said nothing. She simply stood in place and took her notebook out with her wings. Velvet seized the opportunity and slumped on the wall.
“Having fun?” Daring glanced at Velvet.
Velvet glared daggers—maybe "lightning bolts" would've been more fitting—at Daring. "Oh yeah, sure. Smacked my noggin at a rock, almost became a rock, lost one-fourth of my tail." She sputtered a bit, then attempted to compose herself before showing the still-smoking tail hairs to Daring. "D-do you know how long it took to grow this? Now I won't be able to curl it around Night Light's nape."
Daring rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry."
Velvet chuckled. “But hey, I'm having fun all the same. Ten outta ten.”
Sure, nearly getting electrocuted or turned to stone weren't “fun” in any sense of the word, but Velvet couldn't say no to the sweet, familiar tingle of adrenaline. If only these sorts of rushes would come during the event rather than after…
The sound of shifting rocks shook Velvet back to reality. "Dead end," muttered Daring as she put her notebook away and scoped the tunnel. "Nothing in my uncle's notes about this part of the cave. Lightning statues, yes, but not what was at the end..."
Her eyes chanced upon a loose pile of rocks to her right. Both Daring and Velvet's irises shimmered when a stone fell from the top of the rock pile and revealed a shaft of light.
"Hold on..."
A swift flying kick from Daring's hind legs sent the rock pile collapsing forwards. Warm, yellow rays of light caused Velvet's eyes to shimmer and reinvigorated her aching legs. Heart still pounding in her throat, she got to her hooves. No rest for the weary.
“That wasn't so hard.”
The two mares walked through the newly created hole. Greeting them was a spacious central chamber several stories high and covered in rustic, brownish-orange sandstone. The ghostly howl of the cave was gone, and while there were still several dark areas, for the most part, warm sunlight made the cave well-lit. So much so, in fact, that Daring turned off her headlamp and took her helmet off, allowing it to fall to the ground. As Velvet took the headlamp and placed it in her saddlebags, Daring's eyes surveyed the gentle atmosphere.
“Look at that…” Daring pointed to several holes on the ceiling, shafts of light bursting forth from them. “Natural ventilation and illumination. At least we won't be suffocating in the dark down here."
Lying down on a flat rock and letting her saddlebags slide off her back, Velvet basked in the sunlight. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes as her screaming legs got the rest they so badly craved.
Velvet opened her eyes and looked at Daring. “What is this place?”
“The buffalo say it's a prison for some kind of god,” Daring said as she began to wander around the cavern. “But that was all Gallant had been able to extract. They didn't want to talk about it after that.”
The warmth still tingling her extremities, Velvet scoped the area. Sure, it was barren. Could use a TV, a fridge, and maybe a potted plant or two, but a prison? If this was a prison, I'd hate to think what Tartarus looks like.
"Odd, though..." continued Daring as she approached the sandstone walls, "normally I would expect walls made of grayish limestone like what we saw earlier. Maybe the cave we passed through isn't naturally connected with this one.”
"So you're saying somepony dug a tunnel through this area in order to reach this cave?" said Velvet.
"Sounds about right." Daring shrugged. "With the right magic, even a pre-industrial tribe can cut through rock."
Several minutes of silence followed. Before Velvet knew it, Daring was already several yards away, the cave's acoustics amplifying her grumbles to an audible volume despite the distance. “My uncle never got this far. Hell, I don't even know if Indra's Bow is here.”
The color drained from Velvet's face.
“I'm sorry, what?”
“Yeah, for all we know, Uncle Ad was wrong.” Daring sat on a rock, took off her pith helmet, and flipped through her notebook while putting a hoof to her forehead. “Agh, what am I missing?”
Velvet groaned. “That's it?” Velvet's exclamation echoed through the chamber. “We went through all that messed-up shit in the tunnels just for a dead end?”
"Just a minor setback, is all. We'll think of something." Daring looked up from her book, but Velvet waved her off.
Her eyes chanced upon a small fulgurite lying on the ground. She picked it up with her magic and fiddled around with it. “Oh yeah, brilliant plan, Twilight,” she muttered under her breath, “just follow the mule who doesn't have any idea what the hell's going on.”
The cloaked mare's face came to the forefront of her mind, followed by the lie she'd told Night Light back in Canterlot. Velvet cupped her face in her hooves. Joining Daring was a gamble, and she'd gotten a bad hand. Killing somepony and lying to her fiancé was one thing—make that two things—but to have nothing to show for it? She hadn't come far, and already Velvet didn't want to go home.
So much for her story.
“Son of a bitch!” Velvet punctuated her curse by throwing the fulgurite onto a wall.
The chamber flashed a bright yellow. A loud, sharp crack bounced around the walls. Every muscle in Velvet's body shook as a multicolored bolt of electricity arced across the chamber and into a higher part of the cave wall. Velvet slammed her eyes shut, the afterimage of the bolt searing through her retinas.
“Velvet, what was that?” Daring said
“Sorry!”
“No, actually… Can you do that again?”
Velvet took another fulgurite and threw it at the wall. Sure enough, it produced another ear-splitting lightning bolt that arced into the higher part of the cave wall. When the thunderous echo subsided, Daring pointed to something on the cave wall—a darkened, smoking patch of rock, cracks forming on its surface.
Daring smiled. “Just another hunch, but ten bits says that is where Indra's Bow is.”
“Wanna bet?” Velvet took a small wallet from her saddlebags as Daring flew to the darkened rock. The pegasus glared at Velvet, causing the latter to form a crooked smile.
“It's your money.”
“Eh, there's a lot more where it came from. Besides, even if I lose, at least I know my time wasn't wasted here.”
Velvet watched Daring fly up to the slab, paw at its surface, then follow up with a quick jab. Pieces of the slab crumbled and fell to the cave floor, leaving behind sizable fissures. "You know, I just realized something," Daring said as she continued to inspect the slab. "Why do you suppose that lightning avalanche a few minutes ago stopped?"
"You saw how the lightning traveled, didn't you?" Velvet took some time to fix her mane curl while answering Daring's question. "It jumps from one statue or fulgurite rock formation to the next, though it also sends out a couple of deviant arcs that just fly to random directions and explode." Velvet's tail reflexively swished. "The lightning does seem to have a thing—dare I say kink—for attacking organic matter, however."
"That...doesn't really answer my question." Daring faced Velvet.
"After that chasm where you made me use your whip, I noticed that there weren't any more of those fulgurite rock formations or statues around. No place for the arcs to connect."
With the curl at the back of her neck now fixed, Velvet stood up and walked towards Daring. "But all that aside, can you get to the artifact?"
Daring pounded the slab one more time. “No can do. This looks like quartzite. You need a battering ram to dislodge it.”
“Or explosives.” Velvet held up a small fulgurite with her magic just as Daring turned to look at her. "I'll stuff these fulgurites into the cracks on the slab, then break the fulgurites apart. The lightning will try to cut its way to the artifact, and boom! Instant fireworks!"
The twinkle that flashed in Velvet's irises caused Daring to fold her ears and frown. “This won't end well.”
“Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!!”
Darting around in the air, Daring flapped for all she was worth as Velvet held on for dear life. “Well, you wanted to get in, didn't you?” the unicorn yelled.
Daring dared to look down as she dodged another flying rock. “Where in Celestia's name did you did learn to do this?!”
"Do...what?"
"Calculate explosive energy!"
“I, um, well…”
The shaking subsided as Daring dropped her onto the rocks with a thump. “Never mind.”
“I'm surprised you can carry my weight,” commented Velvet. "Didn't you tell me you weren't a good flyer back in the train?"
“Well, they”—Daring stretched—“say fat is less dense than muscle.”
“And Daring's head is the densest of all,” Velvet shot back.
The slab was gone, replaced by a swirling, pale-brown dust cloud with a glowing center. Velvet's mouth hung open as the glow in the dust cloud jostled out of place and fell to the ground. She raised a hoof, poised to approach it, but Daring barred her with her leg. “Not yet. Wait for it to cool.”
When the dust had settled, the source of the glow made itself known: a flat, brown object with the faintest light escaping through its various engravings. Half of its edges were jagged, while the other half was round, like the object began life as a circular dish, only to be cut somewhere down its lifespan. Velvet and Daring approached the object, the latter scooping it up with her trowel and bringing it to eye level. Velvet's mouth fell agape. It was one thing to view a piece of ancient history in a museum, but to actually discover one for herself? To be close enough to touch it?
Not as thrilling as a cross-country motorbike ride, but it came close.
“Fifteenth century.” Daring held Indra's Bow in her wings while putting a hoof on her chin. “These circular swirling patterns suggest Marwari ancestry, but–”
“‘Marwari?’”
“You know, land of curry, chakrams, that kind of stuff.”
Velvet nodded her head and let out a half-bewildered “Oh.”
Her attention was turned to various, faded bumps on the piece. “Check these out. Looks like somepony was trying to go for the jewel-encrusted route without the jewels.”
“Huh,” muttered Daring. “Most pre-industrial art from the Marwari region contains gems. Maybe Meadowbrook the Fourth couldn't get her hooves on it for whatever reason.”
A screech echoed through the cave. The investigation was cut short. Velvet and Daring flinched, a familiar sound filling the air.
There was that buzzing voice again.
Dropping the piece, Daring stood on her hind legs and unfurled her whip. Both her and Velvet's heads darted around, scanning the chamber for the source of the noise.
A bright glow crossed the upper corner of Velvet's vision.
“Daring, over there!”
It had only been a couple of seconds, but Velvet could have sworn she'd seen another pony. A bright glow coming from their fur overpowered even the sunlight coming into the holes on the ceiling. Even after the mystery mare slipped out of sight, the arcs it left in its wake welded themselves into Velvet's and Daring's minds.
"Who...what...was that?" asked Velvet.
Daring took the piece of Indra's Bow and put it in her saddlebag. “Our cue to scram. I sure as hell don't want to meet that pony a second time and get turned to stone.”
As Daring made her way back to the entrance, Velvet took her own saddlebags from the rock she had been sitting on. She turned her head towards the natural skylights, now free of any trace of the mystery mare, and cupped her hooves on her mouth.
“I'm sure you have an electric personality, but we sort of have a prior engagement!”
Daring whacked Velvet upside the head.
“Ow! That hurt!”
As with most journeys, the return trip was usually the uneventful part. Having been acquainted with the tunnel's hazards and having triggered the majority of the fulgurite rock formations and statues, Velvet and Daring had gotten back through the tunnels without much hassle, filling up much of their time with small talk. The thrill of a find was still fresh on Velvet's mind, not to mention the fact that she was a part of it. These manifested themselves in the humming of the theme song from some old film she'd seen once. Only once—except for that minecart chase scene: she had that on repeat in her VHS for weeks.
Do do do-doooo do do dooooo...
“So how did you do that thing with your whip earlier?”
“Manipulating the air around the whip with my passive pegasus magic.” Daring gestured a hoof in the air. Velvet's fur stood, tickled by swirling air currents that told the rules of classic fluid dynamics to piss off. “Useful for wrapping it around objects.”
“I can think of more interesting uses for it, if you catch my drift.” Velvet smirked, then bumped a shoulder into Daring. “Top or bottom?”
“I…uh…I'm not into that sort of thing. Other stallions, on the other hoof….”
A long moment passed, interrupted only by the echoing drip of groundwater.
“Say”—Daring turned to Velvet—“you're worried about Eve… uh… whatever her name is?”
“It's Evy,” corrected Velvet, placing emphasis on the last syllable.
“I'll try to keep that in mind.”
Velvet rolled her eyes. “Try.” As if.
“Relax,” continued Daring “We're in the middle of the desert. It's not like there are carjackers…or motorbike-jackers, in this case, lurking in the bushes.”
“There's hardly even any bushes.”
“Exactly!” Daring laughed.
Velvet's ears twitched. A metallic click echoed behind her.
She had to jinx it, didn't she?
An orange light appeared from the corner of the tunnel ahead of them, followed by the sound of hooves and shuffling clothing. At the corner of Velvet's vision, Daring reached for her trowel.
The cold touch of hard steel pressing on the backs of their heads dissuaded them from such interventions.
“On the ground, now.” A stallion's voice, icy as the guns being pointed at their heads, caused Velvet's breathing to quicken. She looked at Daring for an answer, and the pegasus looked back, raised her front legs and sat on her hind legs. More ponies came out of the corner, all training their guns onto Velvet and Daring.
Velvet's mouth quivered.
“F-friends of yours?”
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Well, that excursion was ... 😎 electrifying.
And of course the mooks and their backers show up only After someone else does all the hard work.
Do do-do do do!
Yay for updates! I wonder what Spikes current thoughts on things are?
Will we ever find out what the thing making the petrifying lightning was?
9005631
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/9/2/1240234__safe_artist-colon-rin+nakai_daring+do_-colon-3_animated_bipedal_electric+guitar_eyes+closed_gif_guitar_happy_hat_huge+gif_instrument_know+your.gif
(Although I personally prefer CSI:NY over Miami…)
9005711
Fun fact: After reading your comment, I did a cursory analysis on how many times the “villains steal the archeologist hero’s hard work” trope occurred in the primary influences of Daring Did.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: At least two times—once in the jungle with Rene Belloq, and once after Indy gets the Ark from the Well of Souls. Interestingly, when Indy tries to pull off this trick with a rocket launcher towards the end of the movie, the Nazis call his bluff.
Temple of Doom: None, as far as I know. If anything, the exact opposite happens: Indy steals artifacts that the villains worked to obtain (using slave labor, to be fair).
The Last Crusade: The Nazis steal the Grail Diary.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: None as far as I know. The Soviets take Indy and Mutt hostage after they explore the Indian graveyard, but it doesn’t look like the Soviets stole anything.
Tomb Raider 2013: None as far as I know, although the plot revolves around saving Sam, who keeps getting kidnapped (ie. “stolen”) by the Solarii Brotherhood.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: Trinity steals the Atlas (and kidnaps Jonah) shortly after Lara uses it to discover the location of Kitezh. Earlier in Croft Manor, a single Trinity assassin steals a book containing directions to the Divine Source.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune: At least three times…
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: Too many times to count. TV Tropes even says that the plot of the game can be summarized as “Nate looking for stuff and Lazarevic stealing it from him.”
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception: Several times. I counted around five, which is more than I’m willing to put in this comment. If you want a more detailed list, just tell me.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End: No comment. I don’t have a PS4.
Given that Uncharted is the primary inspiration behind Daring Did, it doesn’t surprise me that this “villains steal the archeologist hero’s hard work” trope would pop up in my fanfic. What does surprise me is how Indiana Jones, the quintessential archeological adventure, only uses this trope at least three times in its four movies.
9005792
Oh, thank goodness someone got it! When my editor suggested that I put that humming bit in, I was afraid people wouldn’t understand.
I did have to change it up a bit to nudge people to the right direction, though. You can thank PonyJosiah13 for that suggestion.
9005841
Oh, we won’t hear from Spike until five chapters later. Hang in there!
9009790
Yes, you will.
But not in a single chapter. The identity of that being is revealed gradually as the story progresses.
9011020
Hehe I see! Well keep up the splendid work, its always a joy to read new chapters
Of course it had to end with a cliffhanger! I'm glad to finally catch up, don't take me wrong
Enjoyed the new chapters, reading through them was like a breeze. The only thing that made me stop and ponder was the switch back to Spike and present day Equestria... it is really easy to forget this all is just a bunch of diary entries and probably the young drake's imagination playing with them. However, how detailed can the entries be? Honestly, would any mare casually mention her chubby stature in her journal? Spike had to find that out somehow for later comparison with modern, muscled Velvet
These two
!
Uh-oh...
.
EENOPE
!
9061673
And that's kind of why I decided to write the story mostly in third person limited instead of the epistolary format. I don't trust a beginner writer such as myself to use the epistolary format very well.
There's actually a Daring–Velvet fanfic in this website that uses the epistolary format. I've yet to read it, but it looks pretty decent. Can't help but feel that the author was inspired by my fanfic, though...
But even if they were, I'm cool with it. It's not like I can claim ownership to the idea of Velvet and Daring being partners anyway.
Heh, good point.
Though I would imagine that the way Velvet wrote it on her journal looked something like this.
"Note to self: lay off the eclairs. Night Light just snickered when I was putting on my saddlebags. Perhaps I need to take up Inkwell's gym membership offer..."
Sparkle Cola's commentary
Ouch. I personally identify with Velvet here. I was once on a cave tour (Timpanogos Cave...)
tipsforfamilytrips.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/timp-7.jpg
The thing was, the tour guide pointed out a rather long stalactite jutting far enough down we had to duck to avoid it while staying on the narrow trail. That feature was lovingly dubbed "stitches" by cave-goers for too many having hit their heads on it - or so we were made to believe. Well, me being 6'2" I carefully ducked and kept my eyes on that thing - only to do so in a manner that I didn't realize what was BEHIND IT
. I turned to keep walking and smacked my head right into a secondary stalactite that was just behind it. Painful. I dubbed it - not-so-lovingly- as "Stitches part deux!" Maybe instead it should be Stitches part D'OH!
Oh, and as far as adjectives go, my mind doesn't first go to "jagged" to describe a stalactite, though there are certainly very rough and jagged rock formations in caves such as Helictites or soda straws formations. I would more use an adjective like "glistening" if it is still an active cave formation (water is working through it).
...Man I would HATE to be telekinesis'ed up into a soda straw formation. That would hurt all-a-bad! Of course getting clobbered by a big stalactite hurts too.
(Tempest Sabre leaning over the authors shoulder and stabbing a hoof at the laptop screen) - "Hey, Mr. Sparkle Cola! you were just writing about that exact kind of thing happening to me just a couple of days ago! When will you FINALLY publish chapter eight?"
(Me): Settle down. Right now I'm playin with Pilcrow, I'll get to ya inna minute.
Yeah! So your "posterity" could read it and then in the previous chapter be staring at your posterior...ity. Ya know what, screw it. That pun made more sense in my head, but it didn't work. Everybody put the tomatoes down. You too, Meadow.
(Meadow Lark): "Awww!"
(Lefou: "Touch-y!") (sorry, I don't know how to shorten that down into a gif...)
I would hope so. Walking around an unknown cave like that with your eyes in a book (and unaccustomed to the low-light conditions) is a good way to fall to your death, bad guys or no...
.
Or stopped a quest because there weren't enough hops to satisfy his Oktoberfest itch...
Or stopped a quest because there weren't enough corn whisky to satisfy his alcoholic itch...
Or stopped... no, I'll stop there, I'm done. CANNABIS! I lied. (I don't even know where I was going with that)
You could use just a little more to set the mood, y'know. Like a time period, followed by distant impacts and tinkling sounds, echoing in the deep, before a splash of water, or some such.
you might think about doing a "Boy Scouts" (aka "Fillyscouts" impression) with her suggesting a Merit Badge in lieu of a "gold star." Like a Merit Badge in knot tying or whatever...
Well done in your exposition there, where Velvet is talking herself through the process. That's good writing, giving us just enough info on the system for her to rappel down the face.
Sometimes these parts catch me. I mean, I KNOW that this is Twilight Velvet, but after calling her "Velvet" for so many paragraphs and then she uses a phrase like that and says "Twilight" my mind jumps to her daughter. I had to blink and go - wait, why is she-? OH, right.
Again, set more mood by adding another sense besides the sight. You might mention that she could hear the ropes sing as Daring's hooves clopped off the rock face as she lowered herself from point to point out of view...
Confused here. You said her legs were burning which I thought meant fatigue. But here you are saying she actually go a "rope burn." (Which is it?)
That was random. Is Shadow Spade supposed to be a thing? This comparison/joke fell a little flat.
okay, I am very confused. Are these rock formations actually wearing shirts? If so, then why isn't Velvet's attention draw to that VERY OUT OF PLACE fact? If that is the case, she wouldn't be identifying them as rock formations in a universe full of magic. What is more, she is calling them very poor statues, but at the same time, the faces are detailed enough to show an "agonized scream?" See how the logic doesn't work there?
Again, logic problem. Daring just said that these statues used to be ponies, didn's she? I don't know, and I haven't read ahead yet. Well, she implied it with the "not the first ponies to explore this place" line.
Ooo. Nice timing on that right there. Got my skin to prickle a little. Kudos, dude!
Yes! Helictites! Also, If I was Velvet, I most certainly wouldn't accost Daring out of the blue here, grabbing her head. That... might elicit a defensive maneuver tipped by a trowel, yaknowwhatimmasayin?
I missed this reference. Good for the heart? huh? The gold star thing though was funny. Spot on.
Huh. I thought that only worked in sand and soil, not already formed rock... I'll have to look that up.
Yep. Saw that coming, what with the book title and all, and then petrified ponies, and now the smell of ozone... As soon as ozone showed up I was like "Oh, here we go!"
She must've backed away for a long time... distance?
I like it. Nice understatement there.
Um, very important question here. Which direction are they running? Back towards the entrance or further into the death trap? and why?
I'm a little disoriented. Velvet slipped after popping through. Daring disappeared? Which tunnel?
Velvet got hit by the petrifying lightning? Gneiss going...
Sorry. That was bad, and I should feel bad.
Daring alternative replies:
"Shut up!'
"Well, quit being slower than lightning!"
"Well, if you weren't thinking with your tail so much!"
"I told you to lay off the Twinkies!"
"Velvet, this is no time to get stoned!"
"See?! THIS is why you always carry a survival knife!"
"You fell behind again? I was gonna say I'm shocked, but..."
(Velvet reply: "JUST SHUT UP AND GET ME OUTTA THIS!")
Nice imagery!
Need more!
Wait, why doesn't Daring just fly her across, pegasus, right? Or is that too much in your universe.
Good opportunity for a turn of phrase and also prove Velvet's usefulness: for example, when they get to the chasm, she could be like
"Gah! How do we get across?!"
and then Daring just smirks and gives a little flap of her wings. "Um... Pegasus?"
But then afterwards when Daring's whip falls and is carried by a water current below far out of reach and she's like
"Aw, my whip!"
To which Velvet only smirks and activates her horn, bringing it back: "Um... Unicorn?"
Another missed opportunity: At this point she could do a rather humorous and dramatic retelling of what they just did, heavy on the drama and harrowing details, but humorous at the same time, and then summarize the diatribe with this line, where the reader is led to think oh, she's so sorry she came - and then she just goes: "10 out of 10, would spelunk again!"
So does Daring know where everything is? It sounds like she knows exactly where she is going here. Just kicks over rock to reveal the mysterious secret hole?
Wait, sandstone? I'm not sure that would exist in this ecosystem, unless this is a chamber that has nothing else to do with the cave system (unless my minds eye took over and filled in all the missing details of the cave, making it living limestone formations...)
Well lit how? This is a spot, dear author, that you have full license to be adequately descriptive, as it is also the first time the characters are seeing it. I was scratching my head at this point, going: "what, lit by magic crystals?"
Seems out of character for Daring to give up just like that, unless she had already been hunting for a while during Velvet's basking in the sun.
Eh. C'mon. They're both giving up too early.
Okay, I am failing to make sense of this explosive fulgurite. Why did all hell break loose when she looked into that buffalo earlier in the cave? What stopped it? What caused these pieces to go off here in the chamber? Seems rather... unstable.
Wrong adjective. Pawing is too gentle of a word. There should be more impact, especially if in your follow up paragraph you state that she "pounded the slab one more time."
Aw! You have to write in there that Velvet says this with a manic gleam in her eye... or something. Muah hah hah! By the way, I just loooove Vinny:
Best mad bomber...
Wait... it sounds like NOW Daring is carrying her...
Hey! What the hell, Daring?
Alternative comebacks:
"And unicorn is less dense than pegasus."
"Nah, you're just used to toting your own fat head around.
Wait, do what, exactly? You didn't say what Velvet managed to do with the unstable ordnance -- ahem, I mean, uh, fulgurite?
Heh. Actually, my son is currently working in Malawi. No curry there, though. And... what happened? I still don't know what Velvet actually did.
Well, it's still weird that nobody raised an eyebrow over all the funky lightning crap. They were just like "ah, well." and they continued on. No curiosity or exposition on that?
Heh. Did she throw Fulgurite?
Wait, they were traps? Sigh. Okay... I guess... I thought there was some deeper purpose, or some key mechanism that was important to the story. Kind of more lame if they are statues that try to shock you for no reason... There's gotta be more though,right? right? RIGHT?
Man. She doesn't hold anything back, do she? Heh.
FOUL! Daring, you do NOT tempt universal fate like that, not when you are Daring Do!
Chapter Summary!
I really loved this chapter. No, seriously. I nitpicked stuff, but I totally loved it, and demand more. I have been in several caves in my lifetime, and done some higher adventure stuff, and I dunno, maybe I was totally in the mood to go spelunking again. There were great dynamics between your duo here, and it was certainly adventurous, without any baddies even getting in the way! Until the end, of course! I already critiqued what I could, and commented as I went, no pre-reading. So you saw my reactions as they happened. So, only minor cosmetic things, really, but overall very fun. I'd give the chapter a 7.8 out of 10, to be shot up higher if you can wring out a little more well-placed snark, and more effective humor. Because: fun, that's why.
The negative (to rehash). some logic fails here and there with Daring not carrying Velvet, then carrying her, and some descriptions fell way short of letting me know what was going on, or what happened, but I mentioned them above. All in all, good job!
-Sparkle Cola
9246965
Allow me to give a disclaimer first... I was actually going to rewrite portions of this chapter this weekend, but I lacked the time due to midterms. So I already knew about some of the issues present in the chapter.
Bookmarking this for a future Daring-Velvet fanfic. I'mma kill a villainous henchpony this way.
You kid, but let's just say that being an adventurer-slash-botanist grants Daring's uncle some modicum of psychoactive expertise.
Hmm, when I wrote about the Gold Stars, I had the Good Noodle Stars from Spongebob in mind.
I do like the idea of a Filly Scout merit badge, but if I use that gag, I won't be able to make a callback to the Gold Star gag at the later portion of the chapter. Plus, Gold Star is a less flimsy
justificationexcuse for Velvet to boop Daring than a merit badge.That's not a reference to anything specific. It's supposed to be a nonsensical reply to the implied question "Why should I smell this thing you're shoving my face into?"
Ah yes, I had meant to add some dialogue where Daring remarks something like "This fulgurite doesn't look natural."
Oh gosh, I can only pick one?? These are all so good!
I actually had a scene written down that explains how Velvet uses the explosive fulgurite, but my editor told me to remove and instead cut straight to the part where they discover the artifact. His rationale was that in certain cases, it's better to let the reader fill in the blanks, so to speak.
Given that one of my pre-readers (who entered the project at Chapter 10) complained that she lost the ability to visualize the part where Velvet and Daring discover the artifact, maybe my editor was wrong...
Huh, don't know which one to choose, or if I even want to change what I have already. Gonna ask my pre-readers which one they prefer.
Ooh, what's he doing there, if I may ask?
And if you're wondering where I got the name Marwari, it was suggested by a fan on Discord. In real life, Marwari is the name of an Indian horse breed.
Thanks for your comment! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the next chapter!
9250524
Nice! I noted your adjustments in the chapter - I very much approve. And it didn't seem to lose any steam for its pacing, so good job!
Ponies with headlampos are cute.
Also, a fun mythological reference with the bow of Indra (also, mythology is full of wtf)
How is the piece of the bow supposed to look like? I have some problems visualising it from the description
i feel like a decent part of that weight is the eclairs velvet's addiced to