Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 3: A Mayan Island Mishap

by XombieSlayr

Chapter 7: "A Daring Escape."

Author's Note:

For this chapter, I decided to implement a Character Change system. Morning Meir isn't the only bad-ass pony in our story now. Daring has done some amazing stuff herself, and has proven she can tackle situations like this with ease. That's why I decided to do this, where sometimes in the story we will switch from Morning's perspective to our third person storytelling of the Daring Do adventure series, when we switch over to Daring. I thought it would be neat to see how both our ladies are handling the story in their own way. Plus, I just thought it would be fun to see how Daring does things in a Morning Meir story. Please comment any questions or complaints you may have. Thanks!

Chapter 7: "A Daring Escape."

Ralah waited patiently outside the Quaramonte Police Station, for our signal.

Except, she was no longer Ralah, but a bright eyed, blonde earth pony mare from Applewood, who was vacationing in Quaramonte, and simply had to get a tour of the ruins outside the city! If didn't know it was Ralah under her disguise, I would've sworn she really was just another tourist.

Daring and I sat behind the counter of an empty stall and waved to Ralah, signaling her to go into the police station. The plans was simple. Ralah use's her mastery of disguise to trick Mara into taking her to the tourism office (which was located across town) and have her set up a tour of the local ruins. While she was away filing all the necessary paperwork, I would go into her office and get a look at that map. Plus, investigate anything else the mare might be hiding. I didn't like to invade other's privacy, especially a police chief. But she knew something about all this. She knew about the excavation, and that was our biggest lead to finding my parents. I was willing to risk it, just this once.

Plus, she had been a real jerk. And I doubt I was the only one who wanted to find out what this mare was being so secretive about.

We went over to the widow of the police station and listened into the conversation between Ralah and Mara. In less then a few seconds, Ralah had already hit it off with Mara. They were giggling and laughing happily about something I'm sure only a real "Valley Mare" could comprehend.

"But no, it's still a good job. I help when I can, but some days I really do miss the hills of Coltifornia." I heard Mara say dreamily.

"I hear that. But, being out here by the beaches has to be fun right?" Ralah said in a bubbly, valley mare voice, that I did not even remotely recognize.

Mara laughed. "Oh, I'm by the beaches all right. In this office, day in and day out, trying to keep the peace while everypony else mocks me for being from Applewood. Though, I'll admit I do have a bit of a temper sometimes, I still do my damn job!"

"I'm sorry to hear that. I was actually going to take a tour of those neat ruins outside the city in a little bit. Hey! I have an awesome idea. Why don't you come with me? It'll get you out of this place for a bit!" Ralah exclaimed happily.

Mara blushed as she smiled nervously. "Oh, I-I couldn't do that. I have to keep an eye one things here."

"Come on, don't you think you deserve a break after working so hard to protect the island?"

Me and Daring both had to stifle a laugh.

Mara thought to herself for a moment. "You know what? You're right!" with that she got up out of her desk and grabbed her satchel from the nearby coat hanger. "I do deserve a break from all this! Ponies have no idea what I'm going through to protect them! I need a break, so I can clear my head for once."

Ralah smiled happily. "Yay! To the tourism offices, then?"

Mara took off her hat and laid it on her desk. "After you!" she said with a smile.

As Mara and Ralah set out for the tourism offices and the ruined pyramids outside of Quaramonte, Daring kept watch outside while I prepared to investigate the police station.

Investigation (Quaramonte Estación de Policía, 10:54 am)

I wasted in no time in going over and pulling down the map near Mara's desk. It looked like a geological survey map, showing the land to the south-east of Quaramonte City. Mara's admittedly very neat hoof-writing, marked several key points as a trail through the Voiceless Jungle. I traced the path with my hoof and found it lead to an area about 6 miles inland and upstream known as 'Teoculan.'

Teoculan? That must be it, then! That was where the excavation was. That's where Clover and Starswirl hid their treasure (I know it's cliche, but I had to call it something.)

I memorized the coordinates of the map, then continued to investigate the office. Mara kept the place clean and well organized. Though her desk, which was littered with papers was far from tidy. One paper in particular, what appeared to be a letter, written in bold, heavy quill strokes, could be seen jutting from the edges of a stack of folders.

I still felt self conscious about all this. But I decided to give the letter a peek. If it wasn't connected to the case, I would stop and put it back where I found it. I wasn't a snoop, after all.

But as I scanned the letter, I quickly found that it was very much connected to the case. It had been written to Mara from an individual known as Karnoc. He sounded angry with her.

I read the letter to myself.

Mara,

This is your last warning. The Awakening will begin soon and you are expected to start pulling your weight for it's arrival. Your job as police chief will not matter in the New Age. The lives of these ponies do not matter, and you have no need to bother with them and their pointless lives. So enough with this protecting them from our raids and interfering with our needs for supplies. Their resources are ours now, just as much as their lives are. There will be no room for mercy when the Traveler awakens.

Either you start proving yourself as a Setting Sun, or I will report you to Al-Sa-nim and Al-Syd, myself!

High Priest Karnoc

I let the letter fall from my hooves as I stood there, my mind racing as I struggled to stay calm. So that was it.

Mara was one of them. A Setting Sun.

To think I was wondering this whole time, why she was so unhelpful, so reluctant to give us any information we could use. When, she had probably been the one who orchestrated the whole thing. Us being kidnapped, the secret operation at the warehouse. Everything.

But still, she was only a grunt. If this letter was right, she actually had little to do with their plan at all. In fact, it sounded like she was trying to protect the ponies of this island from the Setting Sun! And she was being berated for doing so by the cult's high priest, Karnoc.

(I wouldn't be forgetting that name any time soon) and who was this Al-Sa-Nim? I remembered seeing the other name, Al-Syd, on a letter back at the warehouse, addressed to the manager of the warehouse, Quill-Feather.

This case had gotten even deeper now. The police force was in the Setting Sun's pocket, so the fact that they raided the warehouse, meant nothing now. If anything, they probably just destroyed any incriminating evidence against them and covered the whole thing up. I tried to understand how this cult could have ascertained so much power over the island. But I had no time to think of it now. I had gotten what I needed, now it was time to head out.

To the Voiceless jungle.

I put everything back the way it was before I started my investigation and turned to leave the police station. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, prick the side of my neck. I removed the dart but it was too late.

The toxin was far stronger this time. My eyes were already losing focus.

I tried to call for Daring, but found that I could no longer speak.

My last thought before I lost consciousness, was that I hoped Daring was alright.

Character Change: Daring Do

Daring waited outside the Quaramonte Police Station for her friend Morning Meir to come back. But when she didn't, Daring decided to go in and investigate.

"Morning?" she whispered, peeking into the police station. There was no sign of anypony, much less her friend. She walked cautiously to the desk where the map was still furled up on the wall. It looked like Morning hadn't even been here at all.

As she turned to leave, her hoof suddenly hit something on the floor. Something small, metal and sharp. Daring looked down and picked it up to examine it.

"Oh no." It was a dart. The same kind of dart that had been used by the Setting Sun to knock out and kidnap her and Morning back at Cobalt's mansion.

Daring looked through the office for any sign of her friend, but found nothing. "Alright, alright. Stay calm here, Daring." she told herself. "Morning's fine. She can handle herself."

Daring went to the map and pulled it down. It was a geological survey map that clearly led to a small clearing in the Voiceless Jungle, labeled 'Teoculan'. "That must've been the excavation everypony and their grandma's so excited about." Daring confirmed.

She rummaged through Mara's desk and found a piece of paper where she quickly drew a sketch of the map for her to follow, making sure to outline the exact path the map showed, and being sure to take the directional coordinates down as well. She had what she needed. Now it was time to start searching for her friend.

But before she could leave, she heard a voice from the back of the building. "Hello?" it called. It was the voice of a scared sounding, mare. "Is somepony out there? I'm back here! In the cell!"

Daring followed the voice to the back of the building, where a row of cells made up the police station's jail. In one of these cells, was a young white mare with a pink mane and wearing a set of bright, yellow robes. She peeked out from her hood, to see Daring approach her cell.

"And you are....?" Daring asked, suspiciously. She had learned not to trust robed ponies, as of late.

The mare smiled at her, as she put her hooves up to the bars. "My name is Oracle. I don't have a lot of time, but please! You have to get me out of here. The world is in grave danger!" she exclaimed.

"Yep. We know."

"You...know?"

"The Setting Sun are planning to summon some ancient Mayan death god, right?"

The mare shook her head. "No, no! That's only the first part of their plan!"

Daring's eyes widened as she looked at the mare with intrigue. "Wait. What? That's only the first part??" she asked.

Oracle nodded. "Once they summon Tezcatlipoca, they need a means of controlling him. The only thing in existence able to quell and subdue the Traveler is the very artifact that was used by my people to trap him beneath the island."

Oracle pulled down her hood and looked at Daring with serious eyes. "The Heart Of Oceana."

Daring's heart caught in her throat. "What! You mean it actually is here? On the island?" she asked, frantically.

"Yes. It has been, since Oceana first entrusted it's protection to my people."

"And who are your people?"

"I'll tell you everything, once you let me out of here. I swear it." Oracle said, pleadingly.

Daring thought for a moment before she smiled at the mare. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. Just sit tight."

"Thank you."

As Daring left the police station, she tucked away her map into her shirt pocket. She would need it later. "Okay." she thought to herself. "Now all I need is to figure out a way to break a pony I just met, out of jail."

"That's a first. Even for me."

Daring circled around to the back of the station, where Oracle could be seen through a barred window. Daring tested the strenght of the bars and found they were quite solid. She would need a great amount of force to get them off. But upon inspecting the wall, she found it was cracked and chipped in several areas.

And if scaling the walls of massive temples or tiptoeing across barely stable wooden bridges in the mountains had taught her anything, it was that it only took the smallest things to cause them to tumble.

Daring looked around, and spotted a group of dock workers using a wench with a hook to unload a shipment of fish from a small boat. Daring smiled mischievously as she set out to put her insane plan into motion.

She crouched down as she made her way to the docks, knowing that flying wouldn't be very stealthy. Very carefully, she procured the hook from the crate and unraveled a length of cable from the wench, and took it back to the cell window, where Oracle watched with curiosity.

"You might wanna stand back." Daring joked.

Oracle did as was told, and Daring secured the cable around the bars in the window. With everything set up, she went back to the docks and loaded the cable around the wench, fastening it tightly. "There. Now all that's left is to-

"Stop. Right. There."

Daring put her hooves up and turned around to see two unicorn police colts holding her at gunpoint with their horns. "Step away from the wench. Slowly."

Daring tilted her head to the side. "Annnnd, what'll you do if I don't?" she asked curtly.

The policecolt's horns began to glow menacingly. "We'll shoot you." one replied coldly.

Daring nodded. "I see. And if I do what you say?"

"You'll be arrested for tampering with public property, and attempting a jailbreak." the other replied.

Daring thought for a moment. "Huh. A'right then."

With lightning quick reflexes, Daring spun around and kicked the lever of the wench, sending it into an insanely fast spin. The cable smoked and sparked as Daring flew past the police colts, and back to the cell window, as the whole wall of the cell began to crumble as the wench began ripping it's architecture apart. Finally, the loud explosion of broken cement and rubble was heard all throughout the village as Oracle climbed through the hole that used to be her cell.

"We should go." Daring said nonchalantly, as police began surrounding the station, and several police Pegasai dove in from the clouds.

Daring and Oracle galloped as fast as they could from the station, all manner of police on their tail. The chaos had caused the entire village to go into a panic, as ponies ran through the streets, frantically trying to escape the madness.

Daring ducked as a blast of magic barely missed her head, smashing a nearby wall apart on impact. As they hid behind cover, Oracle pulled out what looked like a strange blue chunk of ice, from her pocket. "And what's that?" Daring asked curiously. "Something that'll get us out of here hopefully."

Oracle took Daring's hoof. "Do you trust me?" she asked.

"I mean, I broke you out of jail but-

"Do you trust me!?"

"Yes, yeah! I trust you!"

"Then hold on."

Oracle grabbed Daring's shoulder as she leaned in and whispered something under her breath, holding the blue rock close. Suddenly it began to glow brightly, causing Daring to shield her eyes.

There was a blinding flash of light, and a strange discharge of magic. Then all was quiet.

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