Daring Do and the Legend of the Kirinstone

by TheLegendaryBillCipher

Chapter 5: A Blessing and a Curse

To her relief, Yearling found the stone lid had rolled back as she flapped up the staircase. Creek Shine peered over the edge, smiling when she saw the explorer approach. The sky overhead had turned golden with the coming evening.

“You’re alright!” Creek chirped. “Did you find it?”

“Yep. And I found out what it’s for, too,” Yearling replied. She touched down next to the entrance. She opened the flap of her one saddlebag, revealing the broken slabs and the lens. Creek took the latter in her magic and peered through it curiously before replacing it.

“And the Kirinstone?” Creek asked.

Yearling nodded, opening the other saddlebag. As Creek peeked in and tried to lift the stone with her magic, Yearling raised her hoof. “I think… it’s best we not touch it until we get back to the village. I’ll explain to you and everyone else why, I promise.”

Creek tilted her head in curiosity, but nodded. “Alright then,” she said as Yearling shut her saddlebags. “We’d better make camp soon, the sun’s setting. And I don’t want to think of what sort of bugs are active in the jungle at night.

Yearling grimaced. “Good point. Perhaps we can set up our tents here in this plaza,” she offered.

Creek nodded, and the two descended the temple’s stairs. Yearling watched every step, cautiously eyeing the saddlebag that held its precious cargo.

Unseen to both of them, a shadowy figure flew across the setting sun, held aloft by great leathery wings.

---

An uneventful camp next to the temple and a long trek later, Yearling and Creek Shine found themselves back at the Kirin Village. One of the kirin gave an alert and the others came running, headed by Rain Shine.

“Creek!” she called out.

“Mother!” Creek ran over and hugged the kirin chief, nuzzling into the floof that looped around her neck. Rain held her close in one foreleg.

Yearling smiled as she walked over to them. “Chief,” she said, taking off her pith helmet to give a brief bow.

“Daring Do,” Rain said, releasing her daughter to address the explorer. “Thank you for bringing my daughter home safely. Were you able to find it?”

“Yes, I did. And I found out what it is,” Yearling replied, replacing her pith helmet. As she reached into her saddlebag, she paused and smiled sheepishly at the chief. “And… if you pick it up, please be careful with it.”

The kirin watched in anxious silence as Yearling slowly pulled out the Kirinstone, holding it aloft in both forehooves. Gasps and quiet murmurs sprung up among the kirin as they beheld the ancient object. Rain gently took it up in her magic, examining it closely.

“This is the Kirinstone?” she asked Yearling.

Yearling nodded in reply. “And I found something else, if you’ll carefully put it down, I’ll explain why it’s so important,” she explained, reaching into her other saddlebag. Rain carefully set the stone down by her forehooves.

One by one, she pulled out the tablet fragments and laid them out before the kirin chief. The other kirin, including Creek Shine, gathered around the assembled tablet, though there were quickly some confused murmurs as to what it said.

“Look through this, chief,” Yearling said, offering the monocle to the tall kirin. “And read it aloud for everyone else.”

Rain took the monocle and peered through it towards the tablet. She gasped in surprise, lowering the monocle to observe the tablet for herself, before peering through it again. Yearling chuckled.

“Yeah, it startled me when I read it too,” she remarked.

Rain focused as the marks and symbols formed into words. Slowly, she read them aloud:

“Many years ago, a Hellbeast broke free from the depths of Tartarus. It is a creature of uncontrollable wrath that breathes fire hot enough to melt stone. I was tasked with bringing the beast under control and returning it to its prison.

“The creature fled to what is now known as the Peaks of Peril, and besieged the kirin that dwelled there. When I arrived, I found the kirin were trying their best to fight the beast, and I could see their desire to help. I was quick to come to their aid.

“With my power, I forged what they called the Kirinstone. Made of stone from the depths of Tarartus and branded with my symbol, it enabled the kirin to harness the power of Hellfire itself to fight back against the Hellbeast alongside me.

“It was not fire that ultimately defeated the Hellbeast, but something the kirin called the ‘Stream of Silence.’ Its waters cooled emotions, even of the mighty Hellbeast, and brought the creature under control.

“After returning the Hellbeast to its prison, the kirin took to worshiping me, and I allowed them to keep my gift. However, I did not foresee the cost of my gift, and how it could very well become a curse.

“Hellfire feeds on sin, and negativity is just as good kindling. Enough anger or rage proved enough to set the kirin alight into what they call ‘niriks.’ Rather clever naming. It takes considerable willpower to calm them down, or the Stream of Silence to cool them permanently.

“The Kirinstone had one other defect that I unfortunately did not realize in the heat of the moment. Should the Kirinstone break or shatter, the kirin will turn to stone forever. So please, be careful my little kirin. Keep it safe.

“Signed…”

Rain Shine frowned, squinting through the lens. “I don’t understand what that symbol means.”

Creek Shine took the monocle in her own magic to study the symbol, scanning down the tablet.

“It’s the same symbol as on the Kirinstone, and it was on the wall of the room it was in,” Yearling explained.

“And it was on the door to the temple when it closed after you,” Creek reported, turning to Yearling. “What does it mean?”

“Well…” Yearling glanced back at her own flank. “Maybe it’s like my cutie mark – it’s the symbol for whoever or whatever made the Kirinstone.”

“The tablet reads from the perspective of someone from Tartarus, a warden,” Rain noted.

“Or a ruler, in charge of their prisoners,” Yearling said with a nod. “And if they’re worried about the Kirinstone being found and getting broken, and the kirin all turning to stone…”

“They would want it back safe in their possession to prevent that,” Rain concluded, her gaze serious. “I see now that your quest is much less mysterious.”

“Aside from who gave it to me, yeah.” Yearling opened her saddlebag. “Which means it’s best I get this stone to the depths of Tartarus as soon as possible.”

Rain nodded, levitating the Kirinstone up and gently setting it in the open saddlebag, shutting it for good measure. “Thank you very much, Daring Do, for finding a piece of our history.”

Yearling smirked. “It’s what I do, chief. Now, I need to be getting on the next train out of here.” She looked to the tablet and monocle. “I think those will be safe here in the village at least.”

Rain nodded with a smile. “Then I think it only proper that we see you off.”

---

Yearling climbed aboard the train, looking back at the procession of kirin lined up just past the station’s rickety platform. The pony inside the booth looked on in wonder, his gaze shifting between Yearling and the kirin.

“Visit again soon!” Autumn called, waving.

“And tell us about Tartarus when you do!” Creek called.

“And thank you again,” Rain called to her. “Safe travels!”

Yearling tipped her pith helmet before stepping inside the passenger car. The kirin waved and cheered as the engine gave a whistle and began backing down the line. Yearling waved from her seat until the kirin were nothing but colorful dots on the horizon.

Yearling sat back in her seat, breathing a sigh of relief. She slipped off her saddlebags and set them on the seat next to her, lightly patting the stone through the fabric.

In all her questing for ancient relics, it was rare she found such a satisfying conclusion to an adventure. And for once her find was destined for more than just a glass display case in some museum.

She stared out the window as she ruminated on her next move. Yearling herself didn’t know how to access Tartarus, or even where to start looking for the gate to it. Even if she found it, she’d read about the magic seal on the gate, and she was no unicorn.

If she could get an audience with Celestia, perhaps she could explain to her the importance of her mission. After all, the two sisters had sealed away Tirek there once upon a time, so they’d know where to find it.

Yearling’s thoughts were interrupted when one of the other passengers gave a cough. She turned to look about the car, and was surprised to see she was not alone like she had been on the trip to the Peaks. And all of them seemed to be reading newspapers…

Suddenly, a lasso shot across the back of her seat and snared her around the middle. She jumped to her hooves in surprise, only for the rope to coil around her legs. She stumbled into the aisle—and at the hooves of a familiar gambogeish gray stallion.

“Caballeron!” she snarled, glaring up at him.

“That’s Doctor Caballeron to you, Daring Do,” he chuckled. “Out treasure hunting and you didn’t invite me? You hurt me.”

“I’ll do a lot more than that when I get out of these ropes!” Yearling snapped.

“I’m sure,” he said, smirking at her saddlebags. As he reached into the flaps, Yearling’s eyes widened.

“No! Don’t!” she pleaded.

“Mmm, must be a good find,” Caballeron chuckled, pulling out the stone. He hummed, admiring the luster of the strange golden symbol on the front. “No precious stone, but perhaps I can find a buyer for it.”

“Caballeron, listen to me!” Yearling hopped so she faced him. “This isn’t a game this time! That artifact is very important to the kirin! If something were to happen to it—”

“Yes, yes, it’ll end the world or something,” Caballeron said in a mocking tone. “I’ve heard the excuses before, Miss Do. But the kirin you say? Hmm, I may have a buyer for this after all.”

“Stop—!” Yearling was cut off as Biff approached from behind and slipped a mail bag over her. One of the other henchponies walked over and tied up the mouth of the bag.

“Where we heading, boss?” Yearling heard Withers ask.

“That shady town out in the desert, the name escapes me,” Caballeron mused. “But first, let us dispose of our loose ends, hm?”

Yearling squirmed in the sack, working to free her hooves from the ropes. She felt herself get hefted onto the back of one of the henchponies and heard a door open—and suddenly the sounds of the moving train were much clearer.

She had worked one leg free when she heard Caballeron announce: “Farewell, Daring Do!”

Suddenly, she was weightless, then crashed to the ground hard, tumbling end over end. She curled up into a ball to minimize her injuries, but still wound bruised and banged up. Fortunately, the impact served to loosen the rest of her restraints. She fought to open the bag…

…Only to see the train backing away from her, now well in the distance.

“Wait!” she called, struggling free from the bag. She took to the air and tried flying, but crashed to the ground again. Her one wing was bruised, and every flap produced a sharp ache.

She took to running after the train—she at least had the tracks to follow back to civilization—but soon found it fruitless.

Her gallop became a trot, then a stagger, then a collapse to the ground.

“H-Help…” she croaked out, before rolling onto her back.

As the heat slowly claimed her, a shadow flew across the sun. Yearling blinked once, then again, but by now her vision had grown hazy.

The last thing she heard and saw were the flap of great wings, and a pair of glaring eyes, burning crimson.

Author's Note:

It wouldn't be a Daring Do adventure without Caballeron showing up, now would it.

Dszg wl R ollp orpv, z gzcr hvierxv? -N