Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This

by MagicS

Daring Do and the Useless Sidekick II

Daring Do stalked in front of several lion sculptures, scrutinizing them intensely. Finally she stopped in front of one of them and tilted back its head, revealing a lever underneath. Pulling it caused a ghastly rumbling sound to emerge from the wall behind her and Amethyst Star and a secret door opened up for them. On the inside of this hidden passage burnt out torches and cobwebs lined the tops of the walls while a red stripe of… not paint but some kind of material embedded in ran lengthwise on the wall right at shoulder height. The stripe extended as far as Amethyst Star could see.

“So are we getting closer to the amulet thingy?” Amethyst Star asked as the two of them headed down this new corridor.

“Should be,” was Daring Do’s curt reply. She had been quieter for a while now, not bothering to engage with her companion as much.

That stung a bit. Amethyst Star thought it was pretty unfair how Daring Do had been making a bunch of bad assumptions of her pretty much since the first moment they met. And through a case of misfortune or two things had only seemed to reinforce Daring Do’s viewpoint while not giving Amethyst Star the chance to change her mind. She could only hope this temple of Cinnabaron’s would give her more opportunities to do something about. Considering the hidden things Daring Do had already found along with the multiple booby traps she was sure it would.

Things were still silent between the two of them until the corridor ended and opened up into a large circular room, the red stripe on the wall also stopping right at the boundary between rooms. Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow as she checked out this new chamber, on the opposite side of the wall from where they came in five passageways went off into different parts of the temple. But that wasn’t all. In the center of the floor there was a black spot wide enough where a pony could stand on it that looked to be made of the same material as the red stripe. Leading from that spot were five stripes of various color; red, blue, yellow, green, and orange, all heading across the floor and into one of the five other passages.

Daring Do walked into the center of the room and stopped right before the black spot, looking down at it and the stripes and rubbing her chin before speaking. “Obviously only one of these leads in the direction of the amulet. The others could be traps or take us back to somewhere else in the temple.”

So we just have to figure out which one? Perfect! I can do that. Amethyst Star thought to herself as she looked over the stripes and where they led. If she could figure out the correct answer before Daring Do then that pegasus would have to acknowledge her. Now just what color stripe is the right one? There has to be some kind of hint or something...

Amethyst Star thought back to what Daring Do had said about the Amulet of Cinnabaron. Some kind of reddish-orange jewel, right? Or orangeish-red, was there a difference? Well there were two stripes on the ground that were red and orange, those seemed like the best bet to her. But they were the farthest apart from each other, if they went down the wrong one they could get lost and end up really far away from their goal.

Then it all clicked inside of Amethyst Star’s unicorn head.

The stripe! The red stripe down the corridor we just came from! It’s a hint to which way to go. Amethyst Star nearly started prancing up and down on her hooves.

Amethyst Star got a big grin on her face and opened her mouth to tell Daring Do she had figured it out. Oh she was going to enjoy gloating about it too. “I-”

“Okay, we need to follow the blue stripe,” Daring Do said.

Amethyst Star’s face fell. “Um… huh?”

“The red stripe is an obvious trap,” Daring Do said as she pointed at it. “When I realized that I had to think what would the last one be that Cinnabaron would expect a pony to pick? If someone had seen the red stripe in the corridor we walked through, and then the red stripe on the ground and thought that was the key, in their mind what would be the least likely one that shows the correct path? And the answer is the blue stripe right next to it. Come on, let’s go.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s just what I was about to say!” Amethyst Star sputtered.

If Daring Do was even paying attention, she ignored her.

The delusional unicorn’s face was red as she tried to hide her humiliation and the two resumed their usual walk through the temple with Daring Do in the lead, now following the blue stripe on the ground. Well perhaps it was a good thing that Daring Do had cut her off, if she had said her piece back there it would’ve just been one more way she had embarrassed herself in front of the treasure hunter. At the same time though it all just made her more frustrated and more determined to do something. It wouldn’t just be good enough to prove she was useful or capable anymore, Amethyst Star now desired to show up the pegasus.

I’m tired of being overshadowed. She internally pouted.

“Do you feel that up ahead? It’s getting hot,” Daring Do suddenly said to her.

Amethyst Star hadn’t been paying attention but now that she mentioned it it was getting kind of hot. “Yeah, I do.”

In another minute the passage came to an end and the blue stripe stopped as well, the two of them now in a large shaft that headed straight to the ground and even further below. The bottom was mired in shadows but a sequence of steps hugging the wall spiraled down all the way for them to use. Daring Do could’ve just flown down but she wanted to test the steps first to make sure they were safe for Amethyst Star.

“Looks alright but let’s take things slow,” Daring Do told her as the two proceeded down the steps. Daring Do was ever-vigilant for any more traps or loose steps.

Amethyst Star meanwhile was trying to seethe, but her companion’s helpfulness was making that difficult for her.

It was getting hotter though the further down they went. And that combined with all the physical exercise they had been doing was making Amethyst Star tired again, Daring Do didn’t seem to need rest at all but Amethyst’s weaker body simply couldn’t handle so much exertion even with all the walking and everything else she had been doing on her adventure so far. She just wasn’t there yet. The unicorn simply didn’t have the innate strength and stamina needed nor the regular exercise and training to build it up. She had to wipe away the sweat coalescing on her more than once, and the bag she was carrying was starting to get unmanageable, she kept slipping up and adjusting the strap to try and make it more comfortable for her.

“It’s really sweltering down here...” Amethyst Star said.

“Yeah. We’re almost at the bottom, there’s a faint light up ahead,” Daring Do replied.

Amethyst Star squinted to see even though it made sweat almost drip into her eyes. Daring Do was right again though, the darkness was starting to abate as they got close to the bottom and a dim red glow came from yet another arch-shaped corridor. As they hopped off the last of the steps and stood before it however they both got a full face of how hot the air coming down it was.

“What the hay?!” Amethyst Star said as she looked away and held up a hoof to cover her face. “Is there a fire in there or something.”

“Not a fire...” Daring Do enigmatically said as she held up a wing to block some of the heat as well.

Walking for less than a minute into the new passage told Amethyst Star all she needed to know, the red glow and heat both became more intense until the two of them walked out to the edge of a massive pool of lava. The entire chamber containing the lava pool was made of a slick black stone that made the red light from the molten rock even more eerie. Carvings of lions and other fierce creatures lined the sides of the chamber, all of them facing the lava with snarling expressions.

And furthermore, there didn’t seem to be any way across.

Daring Do peered out past the lava, there was clearly a landing on the other side and an exit to this chamber. Again the lava would cause no problem for her since she could fly, but with how hot it was in here she wasn’t sure if she wanted to take the chance of carrying Amethyst Star all the way across. It was already tough enough just carrying her earlier. There was probably some kind of secret way across or around the pool but it might take some time to find.

Frowning, the pegasus turned to look at her unicorn tag-along. “I think it might be best if you sit here and wait for me to explore the rest of the temple, I’ll come back when I have the amulet.”

“What?! No way, absolutely not! This is my adventure too and you can’t just ditch me!” Amethyst Star wasn’t about to take that lying down.

“It’s just the safest thing to do,” Daring Do tried to reason with her. “And the quickest.”

“Safe huh? Bet you think I’ll do something dumb again if I keep coming with you,” Amethyst Star accused.

Daring Do grunted in annoyance and rolled her eyes. “No, safe for you. It’s too dangerous for me to carry you across this!”

“Cinnabun wouldn’t just put a pool of lava here without any way to cross it would they! Shouldn’t there be some other way across?” Amethyst Star stuck out her hooves.

“Yes but I don’t know what it might be. My knowledge of this temple is still limited.”

“Excuses, excuses, I bet you really just want to get rid of me.”

“I would just say so if that was the case. Maybe you haven’t noticed but I’ve been helping you despite everything.”

Amethyst Star did notice and that’s what bothered her so much. Because she didn’t want to need someone else’s help. She didn’t want to have to admit that. It was just one more thing to attack her self-confidence with, one more thing that made that insecurity come back and remind her of how she already kept failing in all her endeavors out here. She should’ve been conquering this temple on her own. That’s what she wanted to believe even if it meant a complete denial of reality.

“It’s not like I’m… ungrateful for that,” Amethyst Star shifted her gaze away. “But I’m not helpless either...”

Daring Do let out a tired sigh, a somewhat guilty look crossing over her face. “Fine. But it may take a while to figure out how to get over the pool.”

As it turned out it actually took no time at all.

The moment Daring Do turned around to start looking for clues on how you were normally supposed to get past this pool of lava, her hoof landed on a specific stone tile on the floor that lowered into the ground with a click when she put her weight on it. As Daring Do stared at it in surprise a series of stone pillars rose from beneath the lava, creating a pathway of stepping stone from their side to the other.

Both Daring Do and Amethyst Star were quite surprised by this turn of events.

The unicorn looked from the steps, to Daring Do, and then back at the steps in shock. Finally she puffed out her cheeks in consternation. “How come I accidentally find booby traps and you accidentally find just what we need?!”

“Let’s just be grateful for this...” Daring Do gave the unicorn an awkward grin, as if apologizing.

The two of them then began their hopping from stone to stone, Daring Do in the lead again with Amethyst Star pulling up the rear. The unicorn still had to be very careful when jumping since she wasn’t the most nimble of ponies but there weren’t any large gaps between stones at least. That lava was hot though and they both had sweat cascading down their bodies pretty much the moment they started jumping over it. Amethyst Star was worried she might slip on the stones but they seemed to be pretty slip-proof, they must’ve been made that way on purpose. She felt pretty good about this too though, how many ponies could boast that they jumped over a pool of lava? Her friends wouldn’t believe it!

“Hup!” With one last hop Daring Do jumped onto the other side of the pool, Amethyst Star finishing up right behind her. The two ponies wiped the sweat from their brows and checked out the exit to the lava chamber.

The exit was an ornately carved gateway, all of it made from the smooth black stone. Large steps led up to a gaping hallway flanked by two rifled pillars that held up a triangular overhang, on the floor of the top step there were carvings of lions while on the overhang up above a series of sculpted flowers went from pillar to pillar. Amethyst Star thought it looked a bit silly and over the top for something that was just the exit to a room full of lava.

But she was glad to go somewhere where it wouldn’t be so hot.

“Come on, seeing something like this makes me think we’re close,” Daring Do said and walked past the pillars.

Amethyst Star shrugged and followed along. “Whatever you say.”

She still needed to do something impressive on her own. And if Daring Do was right she would need to do it soon. Considering how everything else had gone here she bet that there was going to be some final trick or secret they needed to uncover before they could get their hooves on the amulet. It might be Amethyst Star’s last chance to prove she could do this kind of exploring and treasure-hunting stuff just as good as Daring Do.

The large hallway they were going down made every little step of theirs echo off the walls, Daring Do was keeping her eyes forward but Amethyst Star was constantly looking around at everything in case there was something there. It was all just that smooth black stone though, absent even of any carvings or paintings. The air was cooling down a bit the further they traveled, a welcome change for the two. Sweat no longer dripped from Amethyst Star’s body as she walked. But even with that one problem taken care of it didn’t stop the unicorn from frowning at the lack of anything else going on in this echoing hallway, Daring Do was silently walking, there was nothing to look at, and every passing second made Amethyst Star more and more agitated. There was no way she was gonna let things end so simply.

At long last this dark hallway opened up into a new room that was far prettier than what they had just been through. A high-vaulted ceiling held a skylight in the center that surprisingly allowed light to shine down from the surface, illuminating the golden-yellow stone floor of the room. There was much more color to be had than just the floor too, murals of landscapes and flowers covered the walls, beautiful mountain ranges, forests, and orchards were now all around the two ponies.

“Wow, this is different,” Amethyst Star said as she looked around.

Daring Do nodded, stepping in front of Amethyst Star with a frown on her face. “Yeah but there’s a problem. I don’t see any exit or any Amulet of Cinnabaron. Which means there must be another hidden chamber.”

Amethyst Star’s ears perked up. Perfect! I’ll find it!

She was so lost in her own desires that she didn’t hear Daring Do continue. “Just stay still and don’t touch anything again, please? There are probably more traps in here.” Daring Do didn’t look to see if Amethyst Star was paying attention to her, taking that for granted, and walked further into the center of the room to figure out this latest problem.

Meanwhile the unicorn wandered over to the closest wall to check out the paintings, thinking there would be some clue in one of the murals. All of this art was definitely the most attention-grabbing thing she had seen in this temple. It must have some importance. Her eyes roamed over an endless parade of flowers. Roses, lilies, lilacs, chrysanthemum, carnations, tulips, they all blended together in a beautiful display. Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily Valley would love to see-

Hey wait.

Amethyst Star did a double-take, there was something else drawn among the flowers, something she didn’t notice immediately for being just as colorful as the flowers surrounding it. Gold, silver, orange-red. A perfect representation of the amulet that Daring Do had described to her was drawn on the wall right there with all the flowers. The jewel in the center, the gold around it, and the six silver wings. If the drawing was accurate in size the amulet would easily fit right in her hoof. As she examined the drawing closer too she noticed it was drawn on a square of the wall with slight gaps around it, as if it could be pushed in.

A huge grin spread across her face as she touched the drawing, Amethyst Star looked over her shoulder to see Daring Do still standing in the center of the room. The unicorn was proud to note that the veteran explorer seemed no closer to figuring things out. “Hey Daring Do! I found it!” Amethyst Star called out to her.

“Huh?” Daring Do’s head swung over to her and her eyes widened in shock right as Amethyst Star pressed the button in. “Wait!”

Click

The floor opened up under Amethyst Star, sending her falling right into a pit of spikes with a surprised scream. The unicorn barely had time to shut her eyes and cross her hooves over her face… before she was suddenly yanked to a stop. Peeking open her eyes she saw the sharp spikes less than an inch away from her face, shaking in fear she glanced back to see Daring Do holding her tail in her mouth, using all her strength to keep her from falling. With a strong flap of her wings, Daring Do managed to pull the unicorn back up and out of the pit.

The pegasus was breathing heavily and now Amethyst Star was sweating in fear instead of just heat.

Amethyst Star stood up on wobbly legs, trying to get over that close call. She took a deep breath to steady herself and blinked. “Thank-”

“You’re a menace!” Daring Do pushed her face right up to Amethyst’s. “I told you repeatedly not to touch anything! But you refuse to listen! You would think after accidentally almost turning me into shish-ka-bob you would stop, but then you do this! Whether or not you’re doing something on purpose or on accident it seems that whatever you do is wrong, you just emit bad luck and it’s clear you don’t know what you’re doing.” Daring Do finally took a breath, pinching her brow and walking past Amethyst Star with a sigh. Amethyst was feeling guilty for not listening and struggling to reconcile those feelings with her dashed pride when Daring Do spoke again. “Look, I’m sorry for exploding at you but please don’t do anything again.” The treasure-hunter then muttered aloud to herself: “Why couldn’t I have found Rainbow Dash out here instead?”

And that made something inside Amethyst Star snap.

With an angry vein popping out of her forehead the unicorn rounded on the pegasus. “Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash?! Well sooorrry for not being some ultra-special pony that can do anything! I guess it’s not good enough that I’ve been trying my best and doing whatever I can to help you, silly me for thinking that! Yeah, silly, dumb Amethyst Star! What’s she doing thinking she can have an awesome adventure too and explore ruins just like Daring Do? My bad!”

Daring Do was now openly staring at the unicorn in shock as she continued her rant.

“Well if you’re going to be soooo ungrateful about a pony who just wanted to help find that amulet thingy too then I guess I can just leave! Sorry that Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle couldn’t be here to help you instead! You probably would’ve found the amulet by now if Amethyst Star wasn’t here weighing you down. Well now you’re in luck, cause I’m not staying here a second longer!” Amethyst Star humphed and turned to leave, walking back to the dark hallway they came from.

She paused for a second, frowning at the way back and all the troubling things they had gone through in the temple. Amethyst Star scowled in embarrassment and turned her head to Daring Do. “Er, how do I get out of here without hurting myself?”