> INTIMUS
>  by The Amateur
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness.

Never inviting. Never comforting. Especially when it becomes your only companion. I was surrounded on all sides by a neat mixture of navy blue and black that sunk into the horizon. A lazy swirl of vapor the color of coal engulfed everything in sight. As far as I could see, the realm I inhabited was featureless. Darkness was upon me, and it was my only companion.

I was unsure of how I had even got into this place, but no part of me was interested in staying. Even though I was the only solid thing in this landscape, it felt like a pair of eyes was watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to leap from the shadows. I reeled from side to side looking for a hidden menace. My heart was beating incessantly against my ribs. I was ready to make a mad dash in any direction just to find something in this desolate plain. How did I even end up here?

Like how a bell signals a newcomer into a store, something unraveled itself inside my mind. Everything was real up to the growing anxiety building into hysteria.

However, it was just a nightmare. Doesn’t make things better though.

A disturbance in the smog behind me caught my eye.

As I craned my neck around, I saw a distinctive outline taking form spontaneously in the darkness. Although fazed by the vapor, I could make out hooves and legs materializing a few meters behind me. A pony was being created by the darkness! With wide eyes, I watched as a lean body and crooked neck was added to the outline. A flat, featureless face was being materialized in quick succession. 
A hideous smile composed of razor-sharp teeth appeared above a headless neck. The smile was directed at me, as were the eyes. Two empty half-moons radiated through the smog. A tiny, rational part of my mind was urging me to turn tail. I did not listen; I could not listen with those devoid eyes staring into mine. Once the finishing touches were made, a gush of jet black descended from the shadows and seeped into the outline. The current did not stop until the entire form was filled, making the pony more opaque and less solid. 

All of a sudden, the pony’s joints began twitching sporadically not very different from a puppet being manipulated from above. The shoulder reeled back as the hind legs bent at ridiculous angles. Limbs twisted into secure positions with echoing snaps. The color shifted in and out of the outline in resonance to the unnatural movements of the pony. It was as though something demonic had possessed the pony and was now running renovations throughout the body.

My eyeballs were glued to the peculiar sight as the joints sorted themselves out. Why was I not running from whatever monster was being brought to life? Ah, my legs seemed to have frozen in place. They were always susceptible to failing when I needed them most...

Anyhow, the head had to go through a few twists and a full 360 degree rotation before it finally connected to the neck like a plastic toy- a very creepy plastic toy. The eyes remained fixed on me, but something unsettling now inhabited those half-moons. They seemed to scream for murder, specifically mine.

Still no reaction from the legs. Always reliable when I need them most!

The jagged teeth separated and created a small space between them. All the while, the monster of a pony still kept its predatory smile. Out from the depths of its jaws came the darker outline of what appeared to be a fine-edged dagger.

At last, my legs figured out it was high-time to get out of there! Hooves clattered against a mist-covered floor without a sound as I galloped on four pistons powered by raw adrenaline at lightning speed! The armed monster gave chase at a sluggish pace, but it was slowly gaining momentum. If I did not lose this thing soon, then its dagger will get to have an intimate encounter with my neck.

With a firm lead on the beast, all I had to do was lose it and find somewhere to hide in the wide... featureless... expanse. Alright, back to the drawing board! It seemed fleeing would have to suffice until I could figure out a plan. Amazingly, my lungs were still pumping oxygen in and out of me despite having to keep up with a sprinting pace.
Maybe I could outrun this monstrosity after all!

One look behind my shoulder quickly ended that fantasy. The devilish pony had already closed the gap I had created between us. That bone-chilling smile just stuck to its face as if sown on. The sight was enough to convince my lungs to double their efforts and kick my legs into overdrive.

The two of us must have been transversing the barren expanse for a minute now... maybe an hour... who knows. No matter how fast I went, that monster managed to keep right behind me. The effort was straining my lungs to the point of beating against my ribs. I fought off the growing knot in my chest but those trusty legs of mine had no intention of continuing a losing battle. It was a constant mental struggle to resist looking back at my pursuer. If I did, those featureless eyes would be the last things I see. The knife was only a couple of meters away from my cutie mark. 

An important life lesson was to be learned from this nightmare: no matter how bad things got, they can and often will get much worse.

To my left, the shadows were shifting. A mirror image of my pursuer emerged from the smog with half of its body. The rest of it was still materializing, but those eyes already had the blank element of raw murderous intention. The unnatural pony galloped at my side wielding a gray dagger perfect for cutting up soft prey like myself. Another of the monsters had me flanked at my right, providing me the exact provocation I needed to keep moving in the same direction. Why they were not pouncing on me yet remained a mystery. It was not like I had the time to consider the motives of my soon-to-be killers.
It all became clear once three identical outlines surfaced from the haze into existence. The clones of the same unrelenting beast now had me trapped. Unarmed, exhausted, and defeated. My noble legs hobbled before dropping me to my knees. My head drooped without a hint of defiance. The nightmare had won; I might as well be realistic about this outcome. 

One of the murderous copies in front of me trotted forwards. Its steps were irregular and deliberate. The pony approached closer and closer until it was right above me. Without a change in expression, the dagger was raised high into the smog. My eyes opted to take a look at the smoke-covered floor instead. The end was within sight.

That was when I saw the light.

A stunning sheet of white enveloped my view, forcing my muzzle to swing away from the source of the spontaneous flash. The executioner about to bring a knife down on my neck was replaced by warm, radiant light. The circle of predators around me backed away from the newcomer as if it might swallow them up. The bright flare was welcoming, even though I had to gaze at it through the cover of my foreleg. The sight was at least a considerable contrast from the sights surrounding me. In between my relieved breaths, a minuscule but audible noise  pierced the silence.  I could faintly make out some sort of static reaching my ear. It was coming from the source of luminescence itself. Regardless of the near-death situation I had seconds before, every part of my mind focused on the trail of static accompanying the light. A peculiar, feminine voice spoke in a whisper through the beacon.

“Wake up, Intimus.”

I recognized the speaker. I was familiar with the voice but I could not comprehend who it belonged to. The foreleg I held to shield my eyes lowered to the ground, exposing my sight to the full strength of the light. I wanted- I needed to reach out to that voice. It became the only thing that mattered: finding out who that other pony was. I knew without remembering why that she was dependable. She could pull me out of the darkness.

Without warning, my cutie mark was on fire. Once it registered that one of the monster’s blades had found its target, my lungs expelled the shock in a single, sustained yelp. It felt as though molten lava had engulfed my hindquarters! Honestly, there was no other way to translate the pain to anything that could do justice for it. The world exploded as the distress became too great to bare. Unable to even stand, my body toppled over as light washed over my form. It covered me and protected me from the insanity of it all. 

Just like that, the nightmare faded to nothing.

I was jolted back into reality. Instead of a desolate, black and blue landscape, I was introduced to what appeared to be a wall of crumpled, cotton sheets. My eyes darted in all four directions and revealed a decently sized bed complete with a bright red blanket and two wooden posts holding a bloated mattress capable of providing one pony an incredible sleep. 

I turned around and instantly regretted it. Sunlight engulfed my vision and had me instinctively rolling over to direct the beams of morning onto the back of my head. I was lying in the bottom two blankets of the bed, both white as snow. Somehow, I had fallen out of bed during night and landed on the carpet floor of the hotel room. It was evident by the way the blankets seemed to ooze off the mattress into the pile I was currently lying on. It was definitely better than my previous environment, but it was still far from solace.

The pain in my cutie mark still persisted albeit numbed slightly. After a few moments of hesitation, I glanced over my body to check the damages. There was no dagger sticking out of my side, not even a cut. My flank looked good as new, minus the stray hairs sticking out here and there. Still, the dream had felt too realistic to simply brush off. 

To top it all off, the hotel room is my prison. I had woken up in this loft yesterday with no recollection of anything about my life. All I know is that my name is Intimus and that I have been imprisoned as part of somepony’s sadistic scheme.

Please... if anybody can hear me... set me free...
> Imprisoned in Luxury
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

An irritating headache.


        No, that would be an understatement. My head felt as if somepony had drilled into the back of my skull with a jackhammer. Despite how it saved me from my nightmare last night, the light was just grueling to look at. My ornamental hotel prison looked fuzzy and unfocused; the walls blending in various shades of bright yellow. If it was not for my headache, I might have been able to admire the soothing palette. 

        As I recall, when I first woke up in this room yesterday, I had not a single memory of my life prior to imprisonment. My name is Intimus - and that was all I had. As far as the room was concerned, there was no way out. The front door was bolted shut, and not even a dozen bucks with all my strength were able to break it. In my moment of vulnerability, I had resorted to screaming for help and banging on the oak-colored door. The windows could be opened, but any hopes of escaping through them were crushed when I saw nothing but mist below me. Apparently, the luxury hotel I was staying in was among the scattered skyscrapers that managed to pierce through a massive smog that enveloped the entire city to the horizon. If my room was high enough to break through the layers, then a drop to the ground would spell certain death - and I was not THAT desperate to escape. At the moment, my only focus was closing the blinds over the windows that allowed this glaring light in.

        Alright, time to test out my hindlegs. After propping myself up like a seal on my forelegs, I called on the muscles in my other pair of legs. Immediately, the fire in my cutie mark raged at full strength for just a second. All I could do was clench my teeth and wait for the fierce flames in my lower body to die down. Afterwards, I collapsed onto my side with a gasp. The fire in my flank dissipated instantly, thankfully.

        “Okay. Let’s try that again” my voice sounded raspy and dry. It served as a reminder that I had not drank a thing for almost a whole day. 

        Repeating my actions from before, I placed my weight onto my forelegs and raised my upper body first. After a moment of uncertainty, I shifted some weight onto my hindlegs. A burning sensation overtook my lower body, but by now it was just a feeble flame compared to the inferno I suffered last night. Now, I could at least stand and turn towards the window...

        Bad idea! The sun seared my eyes and prompted me to sidestep out of the barrage. Once I was within the shadows, my vision returned to its hazy perception. The sunbeams that I both cherished and despised fell harmlessly on the upturned blankets and the bed. Luckily, the curtains were directly next to me. Grasping the wand tilt in my teeth (you know, the twisty thing), I pulled the blind over the window and denied the sunrise any entry into my prison. A persistent, meager blot of light spilled onto the floor under the curtains. Now, the room was bearable to look at.

        Well, I suppose I should give my jailer credit for at least placing me in the most pleasant prison possible. The carpet floor was a moderate green, like the leaves of an apple tree. The room could be comparable to half the interior of a barn, and two and a half of me stacked one on top of the other could have probably reached the ceiling. The bed appeared to be an island in the sea of shades of green with its sharply dissimilar, red covers. It was propped against the wall behind me and only a couple of steps from the wide-pane windows. Across from the foot of the bed lied an oak brown desk inscribed with exotic patterns only a pony with an eye for art would be able to appreciate. A matted chair of the same texture awaited a worthy patron to occupy its seat.

        My vision finally cleared when I approached the desk. A modest cup of black coffee steamed next to a thick sandwich stuffed with dual layered lettuce, pure white blossoms, and thick stems belonging to fresh cut daisies held together by two broad slices of whole wheat bread. The delicious aroma from the meal before me already won my stomach over, but I was hesitant to concede to the demands of my body. 
        
        When I woke up in this room yesterday, the same sandwich was prepared in the same manner. It seems that somepony had prepared a replica while I slept. I avoided eating the previous day out of a hunch that the sandwich contained a sedative. I opted out of drinking the coffee as well; however, the lack of any water overnight had already taken a toll on me. I knew that I would not have the strength to even pull myself out of sleep if I did not hydrate myself. No point ignoring my arid throat now. 

        Leaning my forelegs on the desk, I grasped the cup with both hooves and drank half of my ration of coffee for the day in one continuous gulp. The thermal beverage washed down my esophagus, repairing the desert-like state of my body. If the light had been my savior, coffee was my salvation. After shakily lowering the cup, I fell to the floor and coughed up the heavenly liquid that managed to enter my lungs. 

        I must have laid there for a long time, relishing in the beverage that nearly drowned me in my desperate moment of thirst. No matter how much I wanted to stay curled up like a foal on the carpet, I had to give my hunger attention as well. After a struggle to my hooves with half a pint of black coffee brewing in my insides, I managed to prop myself up in the chair. I had to place myself against the backrest of the chair, which left my hindlegs dangling off the seat at unfamiliar angles. Who even sits like this? 

        Meanwhile, my forelegs got to work. I had the sandwich clasped in my hooves and took a mighty bite into an equally mighty sandwich. Wow, now this is a masterpiece! The blend of various flowers added variety as well as a rich flavor to the meal. Every chomp had a dynamic but subtle flair that knew it did not need to be compulsive to show it is mouthwatering. I was so enraptured in the delicacy that I never noticed my teeth chewing on thin air. My hooves were held up before me holding the space where my extraordinary sandwich once was. Alright, if the coffee was my salvation, then the sandwich was my liberator - at least for a short time.

        All I could do at the moment was sit contently against the chair’s backrest as rusty gears began turning once more in my stomach. I gazed at the empty plate before me - a mess of shredded daisies, lettuce, and wheat bread lay strewn in front of me. Maybe I should have held back a little. Who knew when I might get hungry again? I dismissed the thought when I rubbed my bulged belly - Perhaps not for a while.

        There was a written piece of paper lying in the sea of crumbs. I never caught sight of the page while I was eating! With a single stroke, my foreleg removed any remains of my sandwich off of the black ink. I raised the paper to my muzzle. The page was wrinkled and worn out around the edges. It was like somepony had tried to get rid of the paper but forgot to finish the job. I could read the author’s handwriting despite how wild the cursive got:

        “It was another bright, fantastic day! Dad had to work the fields for the coming harvest, so I got to spend the day as I liked. I went to my usual spot, the best spot on the farm. The one where a pony could watch the sun rise over the mountains and shine its light on the whole town. I woke up especially early to get there in time! Even dad was still eating breakfast when I headed out the door. He never asked where I was going, but then again, he never really liked to ask me anything that did not have to do with my future...
        Mom showed me this spot. I don’t remember her too well, but she must have taken me up here often. Or else how would I have remembered where the spot was? It was still dark when I got up there to the top of the tallest hill. There was another pony there.
        Somepony was at my spot! When I got up there, the pony turned, and I got to their face. She was my age, and she looked at me funny. I never saw her before, and the sun was coming up soon. I did not want to share my spot with anypony else.
        “What are you doing here?” I questioned her.
        She did not look angry or confused. She just told me, “I’m waiting for the sun to rise. I found this place a few days after I moved here.” 
        She was new! I do not know how she could have found this spot, but she was not telling me it was hers. I tried to keep my voice strong like dad, 
“I watch the sun here too. This is my spot.” I was starting to back away.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to take your spot.” She was not looking at me funny anymore. I could not speak, because now she looked at me sad. “Please don’t be angry! I did not know, but if you want, I can just go...” She got up and turned towards the path leading to town.
“W-wait, don’t!” My voice squeaked when I shouted. Aw, dad would be disappointed that I let my guard down. She stopped in her tracks and stared at me, waiting for me to finish. I swallowed and felt sweat on my forehead. “Y-you don’t have to go. We can both watch - the sunrise from this spot, I guess.” 
“Okay!” Oh, how did she keeps changing her stare? Now, she was smiling real big and sat right down in front of me. She turned her head to look at me again with delight. “Well? Are you going to sit? The sun is coming up soon.” 
I got down on my knees and shifted myself next to her. I tried to look down at the ground to avoid her stare, but she was anxious to make conversation.
“What’s your name?”
“Huh?” I stammered with a squeak. In embarrassment, I tried to clear my throat and pronounce my name like my dad would. “Oh, my name is-” 
“Woah! Look, there it is!” Her eyes moved to the side very quickly. She was looking at the eastern mountains in front of us. I turned my eyes in the same direction as hers. A big orange raised itself out from behind the mountains. The sun’s rays moved across town like a blanket across a bed. It was the best part of the day, and all I could do was look at the sunrise with wide eyes. She and I must have watched the sun crawl out of its hiding place for a long time, because I felt something watery fall on my legs. I was drooling! I left my mouth open saying my name like a fool! I pulled my lips in quickly. She was not looking; she was still staring at the sun. Close call! I pulled my attention away from my drool back to the sunrise.
We both looked until the brightness was too much for us. The town was starting to wake up, which meant it was time to get back home.
“That was amazing! I don’t think there’s anything more magical than the things we see.” She was looking real hard at her hooves, as if she was trying to make the sun rise again. I nodded in agreement even though she wasn’t paying attention to me.
 I started to stand on my hooves when a leg wrapped itself around mine. 
“Hay! I never got to tell you my name! You cannot just go after watching the sunrise with a pony you never met before without knowing their name!” She was grinning really big now. How can anypony have such a huge smile? She let go of my leg and stood up.
“My name is Apple Fritter. Pleased to meet you!” Apple Fritter raised a leg and showed her hoof to me. I must have been staring for a while, because her eyebrow raised up and her smile fell. “Is something wrong?” I quickly shook my head and copied her movement. We connected hooves and sealed our friendship.
She broke her hoof away and patted the ground. “We should meet again tomorrow - friend! Yeah, I’ll just call you friend!” There was a yell from behind Apple Fritter. It was from a figure trotting up a pathway towards us. “Darnit. It’s for me. Sorry friend, I got to get going! Remember tomorrow!” 
And just like that, she ran off to that figure on the path. I just stood there, unsure of what had happened. What I was sure of, was that I would be at this very spot tomorrow.”

There was no signature at the end of the letter. This was the writing of a colt or filly. Why was it on the desk of my prison? Apple Fritter... that was the only name I got from the whole entry. I placed it back down. Judging from the heightening contrast between the lights and the shadows, I could tell the day was changing to night. Time was running short; I was going to have a look at the rest of the hotel room before night.

There were really two parts to the hotel room: the bedroom and a narrow corridor leading from the bedroom to the door. The bathroom was accessible through this corridor next to the door. I trotted towards the threshold. There was a pale, yellow light emitting from the bathroom onto the opposite wall. As I treaded towards the entrance, I noticed that any feeling of injury in my flank was barely noticeable. Still, I could not imagine the extent of pain I would feel if the wound had been much worse. 

Lost in my morbid thoughts, I did not notice the change in lighting and the change in surface underneath my hooves. Unlike the bedroom, the bathroom was brilliantly lit by a trio of ornamental lamps in the shape of lilies. It was not quite as narrow as the corridor leading here, but the bedroom was significantly wider than this. Instead of cozy carpet flooring, I was standing upon cold, marble white tiles. To my left was a bathtub equipped with a showerhead. Will I have time to take a hot shower? Based upon the rate at which the day was burning away, probably not.

To my right was a single sink dug into a marble counter with the same texture as the floor. I glanced past the silver faucet to a pony with a coat of moderate tangelo. On his flank rested a tan acoustic guitar. He had a mane the color of pale, amber yellow. It was splayed back like the scales of a dragon and popped up in a way that made it look like a crested ridge. The tail was similar in the way it spread outwards in narrow edges before retreating. The tail was short and only reached down to his knees. 

The distinctive quality was the pair of eyes staring right back at me. They were a bright shade of sap green and shined in the light of the bathroom. There was a noticeable sense of imminent danger in his eyes as well a hint of curiosity as he examined me the same way I was with him. The bags under his eyes revealed that he was either insomniac or unnerved by the thought of sleep. The pony in front of me raised an eyebrow; I did the same.

The mirror gave me a full report on my condition. It was obvious from the stray hairs sticking out of my coat that I had a restless sleep. My mane was surprisingly intact, considering that it kept its shape despite the nightmare of the previous night. However, my face told the whole story. It was stained by sweat and depleted of any signs of youth. I was still in my prime, but I certainly did not feel that way. My face certainly succeeded in capturing my state of mind. A little water should fix that up.

With one hoof, I turned on the faucet. A stream of water pumped out into the bowl serving as my sink. I dunked the other hoof in the chilling water once it reached a sufficient height. With a rapid thrust, my face was soaked and left revitalized by the iciness of sink fluid. When I gazed at my counterpart in the mirror, I found that I had regained a few years back. Now the stains of sweat and the signs of old age were gone. They were replaced with drops of water creating trails behind them as gravity took its course. Luckily, my jailer left me a few thick, white towels to use. 

Speaking of which, my warden must have an interesting sense of humor to trap me in a luxury hotel room. Heck, he was happy enough to provide me a divine breakfast! It was kind, but that did not mean I would take this whole thing in stride. I will be sure to give the jailer my thanks once I find a way out of here.

After drying my face off, I tossed the towel to the side of the sink. Coincidentally, there was another piece of paper resting against the wall my towel had landed in front of. The piece was flat and smooth against my hoof. Unlike the previous entry, this one was undamaged and left in perfect condition. The handwriting was a lot more uniform and easier to understand as well:

“Don’t get me wrong. I have a strong respect for doctors and all medical staff, but these guys were starting to get on my nerves. They checked my pulse, my blood, my eyes, and even my tongue for problems. I had been cleared once, why did I need to go through this useless procedure? The doctor performing the inspection is hardly as professional as the ones I have been to in the past. He was too soft. It was like he needed my consent for every single action he took. What an airhead.
“C’mon doc. You know I more than hit the requirements.” Yeah, sure it was disrespectful, yet who wanted to get a medical check-up when you had a home to get back to.
“Please, be patient. That is definitely true for your body, but we still have to run tests on your mental state.” The doctor levitated several clipboards and a pencil with his magic. He was too busy studying the results with a caramel hoof under his chin to notice when I snorted at him. Everything about him - from his condescending motions to his self-righteous tone just made me hate him more. I let myself collapse onto the table where my examinations were taking place. 
When the doctor was talking about the results, I paid no attention. My mind was focused on more important things - like where to find the closest bar in town. I needed a drink to fill up this vacant feeling in my chest. Maybe then I would be able to stand talking to these ponies.”

Again, the paper provided no signature and no hint as to who the writer was. Obviously, this was a different stallion with a large selection of issues. So why would this one be left untouched? Who was leaving these pages here? These entries were just adding to the jumbled mess caused by my amnesia. It did not help that I could not even think straight with this lousy headache. Nothing made any sense here!

It was at that moment when heaviness overcame my eyes. 

Oh no! Sleep was coming upon me. And sleep only meant that the nightmares would have a second chance at me!
 I made my way out of the bathroom, losing balance rapidly. The bedroom was dark and dimly lit by the single lamp on the desk. My vision was blurred, and my coordination disappeared just as I reached the foot of my bed. The world was spinning faster and faster, colors and shades blending together into a brew of red, brown, and green. My hooves fell upon the cozy, disheveled covers of the bed before I lost my ability to stand. The hotel room flashed by as my legs faltered.

The last thing I could comprehend was the carpet floor hitting the side of my head before darkness overtook me once more.


> The Alchemist
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A white canvas.

        Really, that was all I could see for miles around. Maybe somepony had forgotten to load reality, so now I was stuck in empty limbo. Nothing but the top of my tangelo muzzle contrasted from the marshmallow color of the world around me. It was empty, and it was quiet; all quiet in limbo. Well, at least I had my steadily quickening heart rate to break the silence. So, now what?

        “What are ya doing just standing there?” Exactly the question I was going to ask - wait, that was not from my mouth. Either somepony was now with me or I was finally going insane - fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, it was the former. The new voice came from behind me. With a quick turn of my head, there was suddenly a crackling campfire complete with two short logs facing the flames at perpendicular angles. 

 Seated in the log opposite of me, was a light brown stallion with a flowing, darker brown mane that fell just short of covering his violet eyes. The most notable features were his unicorn horn popping out of his mane and the unkempt, red flannel shirt he wore. He had been speaking to me, but his focus was on the animated fire before him. Somehow, the flames were still burning strong even though the pile of lumber underneath was nearly ashes, and not a single breeze could be felt in the white expanse we inhabited.

He continued to stare at the flames, a solemn frown on his face. “Well... are ya going to take a seat?” His voice was firm and calm, as if being stuck in the middle of nowhere was just a minor inconvenience. I shifted myself so that my forefront was facing the fire. The light from the fire danced across my chest as I approached him. “Go on. sit down kid.” The stallion still had his gaze fixed on the flames.

“Who are you?” My voice trembled like a foal still learning how to make coherent sentences. I was now in front of the fire, but I was not about to take a seat with a pony I had only met just seconds before. The stallion still looked into the fire, as if he were making conversation with the charcoal. 

“So is that the first thing yer going to ask me? Not something like ‘where in Equestria am I?’” He spoke quickly and in a gruff manner. Now that I think about it, that was actually a good question... where in Equestria am I? The stallion opened his mouth, “Let me give ya’ an example of a question worth asking: do ya know how you ended up here?”

I had to be honest. “No.”

“Do ya really think somewhere like this actually exists?” The stallion produced a plank of wood enveloped in a violet aura identical to the aura surrounding his horn. Using his magic, he chucked the plank into the hungry flames. “A place where all you can see around you is a blank canvas? A place where fire can continue burning without oxygen?” Without oxygen? I should be dead right now! I inhaled sharply in my panic, yet nothing entered my lungs. There was no strangling feeling in my insides; it was as if I was always living without air. Apparently, I did not even need to breathe here... the realization slapped me across the face. I was dreaming again!

The stallion must have taken my silence as confirmation that I knew what was going on. He gestured a hoof towards the other log to his right. “C’mon now then. Take a seat kid.” What if this was just a trick to kill me after last night’s nightmare failed? However, he just helped me see that I was dreaming; it would not make sense to reveal that to me if he was going to murder me. No matter what his intent is, it was obvious he was not going to thrust a knife into me. I trotted around the fire to the unoccupied log, and seated my rump on the ridged lumber. 

Glancing over at the stallion, I could now make out more of his features than I was able to across from him through the fire. He was past his prime, maybe just entering his elderly years. Despite his age, his body was quite impressive. His legs were bulky with muscles that seemed ready to plow fields for the rest of their natural life. His chest was bulging just enough so that it was noticeable in his flannel shirt. The distinguishing factor was the cutie mark he possessed on his flank. It was a roll of duct tape with a nail going through it. 

Not a single possibility ran through my mind pointing towards what this stallion’s special talent could be. What kind of skill involves duct tape and nails? However, a pony’s talent cannot always be figured out just from the cutie mark, right? His may have to do with something else entirely. 

“It has ta’ do with alchemy. My cutie mark.” My eyes switched from his cutie mark back to his eyes. For the first time since I met him, the stallion was staring at me. I really hope he did not get the wrong idea from me staring at his flank for this long. His violet eyes examined me with the least bit of enthusiasm possible even though we were the only sentient beings in this place. “Name’s the Alchemist.”

“The Alchemist?” The question did not seem to reach the Alchemist, who turned to face me on his log. He was hunched over, but the stance appeared uncomfortable - that is considering how awkward just sitting on my rear is.

“Alchemy is the art of turning common materials of little value into a combination of greater value. Common objects like recorders, funnels, duct tape and bubbles are uncostly and serve specific purposes. When ya’ bring them together - you can make them serve any purpose in any situation ya’ find yourself in.” The Alchemist smirked and gazed downwards. I followed his eyes.

Right on queue, the said items materialized out of nowhere between us. It is impossible for them to have been there before, but it seemed just as preposterous to imagine that they could just appear spontaneously in this barren world. The Alchemist’s horn lit up. Each item was enveloped in a violet aura before rising off the ground by his magic. The Alchemist shifted his stare to the tools of his trade as they floated eye level. 

Squinting his eyes in focus, his magic began manipulating a vivid red funnel so that it eased its way into one of the holes on the side of a wooden recorder. With a firm twist, the funnel was secured in place. Next came the roll of duct tape. Two dark grey strips of the unyieldingly sticky material were latched onto the recorder as well. They covered the rest of the holes, forcing any air entering the instrument to pass through the whole interior. Another strip was ripped off the roll and wrapped around the bottom of the funnel to assure that it would stay connected to the recorder. The final touch was a filly’s bottle of bubbles complete with a wand on top. The Alchemist flipped the bottle before lowering it into the funnel with the wand facing downwards. His magic had to give a little push in order to nudge the wand into the recorder through the funnel. Another long piece of duct tape circumscribed the sides of the bottle, attaching it to the funnel. The whole creation had a distinctly shoddy look to it, not helped by the repelling color scheme of tan, red, and black.

        “How did you do that?” I continued to stare in awe at the makeshift pipe the Alchemist raised up to his mouth. With an exhale from his lungs, bubbles arose from the open end of the contraption. He snuck a look at me with one eye as he continued blowing bubbles through the end of the recorder instead of music.

        The pipe fell away from his teeth. Except the Alchemist just glanced at me with that indifferent look from before. “Well, it was quite easy. Ah just had to attach this here bottle of bubbles to the funnel and-” 

        “No, I mean how did you make those objects appear?” I still could not grasp my mind around how he managed to produce four items out of nowhere. He was not even using magic at the time!

        “Ah willed them to be real.” The Alchemist responded.

        “You... willed them? What does that mean?”

        “Exactly what it means. Ah made them exist in our endless realm.” He went back to blowing bubbles from his pipe with that knowing smirk. Now he was just playing with me.

        “So you can will objects into existence. How?”

        The Alchemist pulled his head back, staring at the space above his head for a few seconds. When he found his answer, his eyes turned back to me. “Just try imagining it kid. In yer mind, imagine the object is there beside you. Think of the shape, the color, and the details right down to how it would weigh and feel in your hooves.” I rested my gaze on the empty space to my left on the log. What kind of item could I fit in this limited area? A pencil? An apple? Yes, an apple should do. Apples are red - and curved around the sides. Tough, solid, and lightweight as well. Just like the Alchemist did before, I willed a red, curved apple to exist on the log. My eyes widened in surprise, considering I just managed to spontaneously create an object with my mind. It had to be impossible, but then again I was dreaming; I suppose nothing had its limits here. Wait, if I am looking down at it, then why can I only see the side of the apple instead of the top?

        “...Er - umm. Yeah, it seems ya’ might need to start thinking a little more three-dimensional from now on kid.” With one hoof, I scooped up the “apple” I willed to be real. It was flat as paper. Heck, at eye level, I would not even be able to see it! With a sigh, I threw my creation to my right. Just like paper, it floated gently in no particular breeze before landing on the floor.

        Despite what was a failure to me, there was no hint of disappointment in the Alchemist’s face. He gave me a genuine smile before opening his mouth to speak, “Try again. This time think of the apple from various viewpoints. You do not always have ta’ imagine it from a strictly linear point of view. Think all around it; refine as many details as you can.” Repeating his advice in my mind, I once again focused on the portion of the log to my left.

        This time, I imagined looking at the apple from different perspectives. The top, the bottom, and a full 360 degree rotation of the sides. The skin would be bright red, but it would also come in various shades of the color with a few specks of deep brown and yellow spread across it. Everything right down to the position it would have and the shadow it would possess in the fire were refined in my mind. A three-dimensional apple appeared next to me. It was an exact replica of its real-life counterpart! 

I had come into this dream and the last with not a single idea of what was going on, but now I was in control. I felt as if nothing could harm me! Most of all, for the first time I could recall in my short memories, I did not feel as if I was standing on the precipice of danger. It was a short-lived moment of harmony but well-needed.

        “That is good, but you will need to be quicker than that.” The Alchemist glanced at me with somber eyes, his smile from before vanishing into an emotionless line. “The nightmares will come, and you will need to defend yourself. That apple was training for the situations to come. Ya’ need to be able to will objects into existence at the ready.” Nightmares will come. I shuddered mentally at the thought of the monstrous shadows that tried to murder me last night. Imagining the apple was challenging without a time limit, but trying to conjure up items to save me while vicious attempts are made on my life?

        My newfound confidence dissipated under a storm of pessimistic thoughts.

        “But never lose faith.” I was brought out of my glum trance by the Alchemist’s change in tone. His firm voice increased in volume. “You will have ta’ keep yourself going no matter what the nightmares throw at ya. Persevere through whatever hopeless situation ya’ end up in. Oh, and keep yer mind open, kid.” With that said, it seemed like the Alchemist had said everything he needed to say. His eyes darted back to the flames, which were starting to die down despite how long they had been burning strong. I looked for something more to ask, but I could not find anything to say.

        After an awkward moment of silence, the ears of the Alchemist suddenly perked up. He turned his muzzle towards me. “Remember this, Intimus. Everyday begins with a blank canvas.” My mouth formed into a puzzled slant, reflecting my confusion at what he had just told me. 

        “What does that even mean?” It was a blatant question to ask the pony who just provided me a way to defend myself. The Alchemist did not seem to mind; in fact, he calmly chuckled for a good while. His powerful laugh echoed across the expanse we inhabited, before he finally satisfied his humor. 

        “Ha! It’s some old wisdom that’ll serve ya’ good in the future, Intimus!” His smirk spread from one side of his face to the other. There was something off about his good spirits though. There was an unmistakable sadness in his features. The way his eyebrows furrowed slightly when he grinned... was it pity? Perhaps it was regret? Whatever it was, I had no time to analyze his true feelings as darkness began creeping into the white landscape. The fire was dying down under the looming strength of the shadows. The Alchemist continued his deceitful grin. It was at that moment that I realized what I had missed. How he knew my name.

        “Wait Alchemist. How do you know who-” The darkness snuffed out my voice. The flames ceased to burn and the world went black. 

The Alchemist was gone, and I was aware that I was no longer sitting but rather lying on my belly. My face was dug into some sort of grainy surface that was tepid and mushy to my skin. My eyes had closed at some point during the transition, so I risked opening one of them. There was no white expanse anymore. There were now lofty blades of grass and green moss running free on any surface it can reach. Tough, aged brown trunks rose from the moss into a foliage that blocked almost all but a few rays of sunlight. A wet heat descended on my back, sapping my energy deliberately. My hearing alerted me to the loud buzz of mosquitos and the cries of what seemed to be macaws. Beyond these distracting noises, there were distinct sounds that could not belong to anything other than predators. Wait, how could I know what these sounds were? But more importantly, when did I end up in a jungle?

        With a grunt, I brought my face off of the jungle floor and surveyed the environment I was in. There was no organization in the way vines, trees, and other wild plantlife grew around me. Apparently, I landed in a clearing devoid of any wildlife save for an occasional fern or two. As far as I was concerned, I just woke up in a jungle with (most likely) countless predators with nt a clue how I got here. Also, I was lost. This could not get any better could it?

Life turns out to have a cruel sense of humor.

A mighty impact on my back sent me sprawling onto the jungle floor again. My face got to reaquaint itself with dirt and moss as my assailant pinned me down by practically standing on me! My forelegs were pinned behind my head, forcing me into a helpless stance. “Ah! O-okay, you got me! Please, I have no idea where I am and how I got here! Just don’t eat me!” My organs were basically getting crushed by the weight of my assaulter. There were two areas on my lower back where the most force was being exerted. My aggressor must be a pony, as their other two legs held my forelegs in place. I felt the assailant shift their weight to lower their head to my twitching ear. 

“Who the hay are you?” The voice was feminine, but it was also rough and frankly very intimidating in this situation! So, my assailant was a female pony, a mare? I tried not to think too hard on it as my body continued to be compressed under her.

“I-Intimus! Intimus is my name.” My own voice came out frantic and strained. The grip on my forelegs relaxed and soon the weight on my back was removed. I gasped in relief, clutching my nearly crushed insides.

“Intimus? Well, about time I found you, probie.” Now that I was not being crushed to death, I could gaze at the newcomer. She was a relatively small mare with a lean, athletic body. Her mustard coat blended well with the dirt of the clearing. I sneaked a glance at her cutie mark: it was a golden compass rose. Not to mention, she had wings on both sides of her body, albeit one was wrapped in fresh bandages. However, the defining factor was her mane. It was a mixture of grey in different shades. It was almost as if someone had sucked all the color from a rainbow and attached it onto her. Her bangs slipped right above her eyes and some of it fell out of a tan pith hat down the side of her neck. A pair of light magenta eyes stared back at me with annoyance.

“What? You look like you have never seen a renowned treasure hunter before. Now c’mon probie, I know you are new to this and all.” The pegasus trotted over to a collapsed log straight ahead of us. “But you’ll just have to trust me. Okay?” After a moment of dumbfounded hesitation, I nodded lightly. Just who was this treasure hunter, and why was she treating me like her partner in crime?

“C’mon then, Intimus! Care to journey with Daring Do herself?” Daring Do? What kind of name was that?
	
	

> A Literal Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A cross pegasus mare.

        Daring Do glared in my direction, a mix of disbelief and infuriation etched on her face. “What do you mean you have never heard of me? Equestria’s greatest explorer ring any bells?” If the venom in her voice was not a hint, I figured out right away this was not the kind of mare you wanted to make enemies with. 

        I really needed to tread carefully. “Well, I cannot really remember anything before-”

        “Before you woke up in your luxury hotel prison with no recollection of your life before then? Yeah, I know all about it. This is just a dream, remember?” Daring pointed a hoof behind us, towards the foliage she jumped me from. A closer look revealed that the trees and plant life had become unfocused and blended together. It was as if the whole jungle was just a very realistic mirage.

        “What? Where have I ended up now?”

        Daring brushed the dirt with her hoof, eyes wandering to the treetops. The way she blatantly attempted to deviate her attention from me either meant two things: she had an apology to make or an awkward explanation was in order. I really hoped it was the former.

        Daring sighed. “Yeah. Thing is... you are in a novel, probie.” Crabapples. It was an explanation. “This is going to sound weird, but I am a fictional character. Written up by some foals’ writer!” Her left eye twitched noticeably. “And you are currently in one of my adventures. Specifically, Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. This story follows of course, me, on my treacherous hunt for the famed treasure and yadda yadda yah.” A twirl of her hoof emphasized the closing point. For a fictional character, she sure had an amazing lack of enthusiasm for the story she was starring in. 

        “...We are in a novel.” I looked straight into her eyes. She stared back with an unreadable mask. 

        “Yup.”

        “And you are not real. Even outside of my dreams.”

        That got an ear twitch out of her. The facade she wore began to show its cracks. “...Just fiction.”

        “...I can believe that.” Honestly, after the whole waking up in a prison with no memories, escaping murderous shadows, and learning how to rewrite reality from a prudent pony, finding myself in an adventure story just could not surprise me. “Still does not explain the hazy stuff going on behind us.” Daring snorted as if I just asked her what color the sky was.

        “Duh. It is a story about the adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably, unstoppable Daring Do!” She threw her description out into the jungle with jubilant gestures using both of her forelegs. Daring let the words hang in the air for a little longer than comfortable, standing on her hindlegs. Once she closed off, she fell back down to all fours. “Did you think it would be centered around the shaky, anxious, filly-of-a-colt companion of Daring Do?” 

        “What companion? I don't see anypony else here except-” The snobbish glee etched on her face gave me the clue I needed. “Shut up.”

        Still, Daring unsuccessfully hid a snicker from me behind a foreleg. “As the main character, the narrative is told from my perspective; therefore, it would make sense that nothing would be clearly defined outside of my perspective. If you tried to go ahead or turn back, you would probably end up walking off the edge of the world.” So, forced to follow the main character? At least I was paired with a pony who looked like she knew how to handle herself.

        Before I could even try and sort out what else to say, Daring was shoving me towards the collapsed log in our path. “Alright, get a move on! We have to get to the temple before that beast, Ahuizotl, snatches the Sapphire Stone!” She crouched down next to the log, likely searching for something deadly, maneuvering inside the opaque bushes, hidden in plain sight to her. 

I entered this jungle straight from oblivion; I needed answers, and Daring could give them to me. It was time to take control back.

        Her magenta eyes flicked back to me, impatience dancing in each pupil. “You hear me, probie? We cannot stay-”

        “No, not until you answer a couple more questions. I deserve to at least know what I am getting into.” I impressed myself with how far I got from sounding like a foal to an impatient colt! “First of all, how could we be in a story if this is all taking place in my head?”

        Daring sighed again. “Let me give you the short version then. When you read a book or watch a movie, the plot and characters of that book are copied into your head. It is just like walking on sand, your hooves make imprints and that story leaves its mark. Now every so often, your thoughts will eventually wander back to that Daring Do novel, and it will basically replay the narrative as you perceived it. The jungle, the conditions bearing down on you, and I are all based on how you saw us!” 

Okay, so that cleared up a lot. Everything I was experiencing right now is just how I grasped the story - including Daring herself...

        My realization must have been blatantly etched on my face, because Daring Do beamed away her smug smile. “Even I am just your version of the actual character! You only have yourself to blame for making me as awesome as I am.” Great, I literally brought this upon myself. 

        “You know about my situation, your own existence, and how my dreams work. You are just a character from my head, so how can you know all of this?” Daring’s ears perked up. She began scanning the bushes, picking out even the slightest disturbances. If she heard my question, it seemed that she had more important matters to contend to.

        She stood on all four legs. “We have to go. Now.”

        “Why? Is something wrong?” A growl behind me answered my question. When I swung around, a jet black panther came into my vision. It scowled at me with its legs spread out, ready to tear me to shreds. In one of my finer moments, I froze right on the spot, gaping like a fool.

        Fortunately, Daring pulled me onto the log before the panther could get its claws on me. To our right, a tiger leaped out of the foliage. It landed just a few hoofs short of our log. Immediately afterwards, a lynx materialized from the bushes as well, swiping the air with one paw. As if that were not enough, a cheetah entered the fray, growling in anticipation for the ambush.

         There were hunters on all sides, each fixated with the two ponies stranded on their low-lying log. “Get a hold of yourself, probie!” What was she talking about? Oh. My forelegs were wrapped around her, hugging her in a death hug. With the most sheepish grin I could give her, I broke all physical contact with the adventurous mare. 

        “Ahuizotl’s goons. They must have snuck up on us while we were talking.” Each predator advanced gradually, closing the ring around us. Daring and I searched desperately for a way out, but it was apparent that Ahuizotl’s minions had every gap covered - except for the back! Behind us, there was a pathway left wide open with no jungle predator to block it. 

        However, soon that gap was soon blocked by... a white housecat. It hopped into view with an adorable smile on its face. 

Before I knew what to do, Daring catapulted past me and streamed past the housecat (admirably trying to be intimidating) with a olive green and grey spectrum trailing behind her.

        With their target gone, Ahuizotl’s minions turned all their attention to the only prey left. Four pairs of belligerent eyes (and a pair of cuddly ones) all focused on me. Now was the time to run, Intimus!

        As per usual, my legs required a little mental push before I was well on my way after Daring. The housecat screeched at me, but other than that there was nothing it could do as I sprinted past. It growled behind me, before letting out a shrill yell as the predators gave chase. 

        The path dropped in elevation and it became obvious that I was on my way downhill. Roots, trunks, boulders, and shrubbery littered the jungle floor. Thick leaves and vines seemed to jut out of every opening they could find. Up ahead, Daring weaved right past the thicket as though it were her backyard! On the other hoof, I was either stumbling on a rock or getting blinded by an unforeseen leaf. There was no thought to my speed; my legs and lungs knew what they needed to do.

        Once the foliage thinned out and the path became clear, I snuck a glance back at the pursuers. Just in leaping distance of my tail was the pack, kicking up dirt as they trucked their way through all obstacles. On the back of the panther, a white housecat held on for dear life. A look of terror remained plastered on its face, not too far off from my own. 

        In the moments I chanced a look back at the predators, an elevated root popped up in the trail. In a split second, I went from staring my would-be killers in the face to tumbling face first down a steep hill. The jungle and dirt route became nothing more than colorful blots in my vision as the whole world spun. All I could do was hold my head as everything the jungle could throw at me struck me at any exposed body parts. 

        “Woah! Daring watch out!” The olive green and mustard blur could only stare with horror as I collided with her. We both rode the trail with our faces until we skidded to a stop next to a cliff. My insides churned from the roll down, and everything appeared unfocused in my eyes. Daring pushed herself off the ground and hurried over to me. 

        “The hay was that? We almost went over, you cluts! Now get up, we need to jump across.” She had to be joking, right? After confirming no bones had been broken, I lifted myself off the ground. A chasm stretched before us almost infinitely in both directions. There was no way a grounded pegasus and an earth pony could close the gap!

        Luckily, my breathing was not even heavy at the slightest from the run. “Are you mad? We will not make it!” Behind us, the sounds of growling and paws scratching the ground grew louder. Daring frowned and turned her attention to the chasm. For crying out loud, the bottom of the ravine was not even visible! There had to be another way...

        “Wait. I can make us a way across.” If I can will an apple to exist in the dream, then I could imagine up a bridge as well! I needed to concentrate. Closing my eyes in concentration, I thought of the length and the make-up of the bridge. Everything from the ropes holding it together down to the color of each plank.

        “Wait, Intimus! Don’t imagine anything!” My eyes shot open, the final details of the bridge fresh in my mind. A new bridge appeared before us. Two stakes were dug in, each tied to ropes that ran down to another pair of stakes on the other side of the ravine. Stainless white planks lined up, held together by the bright yellow ropes. It was sturdy; I made sure of it.

        “No harm done. Let’s get out of-” My sentence was cut short by a howl in the far distance. The ground shook and the jungle rustled from the sheer volume. 

        “Ah ah ah. No cheating in the story!” An insidious male voice with a notable accent bellowed from deep within the jungle. The cliff we stood on shook itself violently. Cracks rippled through the ground, and the wind picked up into tempest speeds. 

Even the predators behind us halted in their tracks, aware that the world was pulling itself apart. Daring and I dug in just to avoid being carried off by the relentless gusts. The powerful bouts of wind created projectiles out of rocks and the shrubbery. Ahuizotl’s minions retreated into the foliage, hoping to shield themselves from the barrage. The sound of roots being ripped from the ground pierced the wail of the wind. I looked up just in time to watch as the unseen force of nature lifted a fully grown tree like it was a foal’s toy. The roots splayed out from the bottom of the massive trunk, from which buried soil clung on in diffused blobs.

There was not enough time to shout a warning. I crawled on my belly towards Daring, who somehow managed to hold onto her pith hat. The tree rotated several more times in the gust before letting gravity take its course. The behemoth with its thick canopy and ancient roots descended upon us. I clenched Daring’s tail in my teeth and reeled my head back as briskly as I could. She let out a silent gasp before flying off of her hooves back towards the jungle. 

At that exact moment, the tree fell with the force of a meteor, smashing into the bridge I just conjured up. The trunk smashed through the middle of the bridge, dragging the ropes and stakes with it. Planks split into millions of unidentifiable shards, sailing through the air with enough speed to penetrate flesh. Luckily, with both of our bodies hugging the ground, the projectiles flew right over us. However, our pursuers were not as lucky.

Screams of wounded animals substituted the howling of the wind, which faded away with the bridge’s destruction. The frantic movement in the bushes did not cease though. It seemed that the splinters did no more than to infuriate the predators. Daring must have figured it out before I did.

“Oh horseapples. Those guys are in a frenzy now! We have to jump, probie!” She propped herself back onto her hooves in record time; meanwhile, I did my best to untangle myself from my own legs. She grabbed me with a foreleg and trotted to the edge. “Just grab for anything you can!”

“Are you crazy? Let me go, Daring! We won’t make it!” This mare has lost it! My hooves struggled against the hoof dragging me to the end of the precipice. “Daring, wait! Aaaaaaaah!” I was catapulted by Daring’s leg in an arc over the chasm. My legs flailed when they realized they were no longer on solid ground. My momentum did not last long. Soon, I was on my way down to the bottom of the ravine. Time generously slowed down in order for me to understand how I would die - Swinging my legs in thin air while screaming at the top of my lungs.

Just as time quickened once again, something the color of moss green appeared in sight. It did not look even strong enough to support me, but there was nothing else to hold onto. With my forelegs stretched out, I fell right onto the vine. It was sturdy enough to stop my descent, which I could not be more grateful for. However, the vine carried the force of my impact and swung upwards, pulling me along for the ride.

Instead of falling, I was flying! I rose from the depths of the chasm back to the cliffs. Only now I was within leaping distance of the other side! I waited until I hit the pinnacle of my flight before letting go of my overgrowth savior. I was at the level of the treetops when I released my grip, giving me a full view of the jungle. The trees and wildlife expanded outwards until a certain point in the distance, from which afterwards there was only empty darkness. So, Daring was right about the story. There was really no way of escaping the narrative.

The real eye catcher was the golden temple that dwarfed its neighbors. The pyramid structure also featured an interesting entrance - interesting meaning a demonic face with haunting red eyes and bat ears! Its mouth opened all the way to the soil, revealing a barely visible staircase inside. 

That was the most I saw before I began to drop out of the sky - from the height of a lofty tree. Yeah, this was going to hurt.

And boy did it hurt. It did not take long for me to pancake into the dirt face first. The sight of me flattened against the ground was probably a laughable sight; I will admit that much. Nevertheless, the agony of hitting Earth at the speed of an arrow was hardly something to find humor in. 

The feeling of having my whole form compressed into the Earth made me almost wish for death. And yet, I was still breathing (even if it was mostly dirt entering my lungs). The force of the impact managed to bound my legs underground, but a quick test on all four presented no broken bones or torn muscles. Thankfully, I could survive high falls on top of needing no oxygen to breathe. The only consequence was that I was probably going to be terribly sore when I woke up.

The next step was freeing myself from the crater. One by one, I released each leg from their bondage. Once I had my hindlegs out, I could focus my efforts of pulling my muzzle out of its portion of the crater. Lifting my flank high, I gave a few test tugs. No use. My head only budged a pitiful inch, tossing some more grains of soil in my vision. There was a muffled thump ahead of me. 

“Wow. I honestly do not know what to say.” Out of the worst things to happen to me since imprisonment, letting Daring see me in this condition had the rest of the competition beat by a mile.

Like some sort of deformed ostrich, I struggled to free my muzzle from the hole in the ground. Even though I could not see her, I could tell from the sudden vibration and muffled giggles that she was taking full pleasure in the sight. Eventually, I managed to yank my head back into fresh air. Never did the treacherous jungle look more divine!

After coughing up the last mouthful of dirt, I turned to the hysterical pegasus on the ground, holding her guts from the laughter. I would take her reaction any day to the predators’ lethal desires. They continued to stare daggers in my direction, while splinters jutted out of their fur. Thankfully, the abyss also gave Daring and me a chance to catch our breaths. I waited using whatever patience I could still muster for Daring to recompose herself.

After a few more laughs, she cleared her throat. “Oh, you should have seen yourself! Of course you could not... what with your head being in the ground!” She decided to spare me of anymore shame by holding back her snicker. I could see how demanding the effort was through her tightly puckered lips. It was only after the humor had grown stale that Daring allowed herself to speak again. “Anyways, are you okay?”

Now she asks me. “Surprisingly, I am okay. Apparently, I must be quite durable in here.” 

“Trust me, there is a lot you can get away with in your dreams that would never work in real life.” Daring dusted off her pith hat and wiped her forehead dry of sweat. “There are some things, however, that you cannot get away with.” 

The fierce response to my bridge came to mind. “What exactly happened back there? Did I will a hurricane into existence as well?”

Daring tossed a crossed look to the side. “He did not tell you, did he? Darnit. How careless can the Alchemist get?” She directed the baleful question to no one in particular. 

“You know the Alchemist?” I interrupted.

“Yeah. He was the one who told me to help you out.” Daring continued to gaze aimlessly. The fact I was unaware bothered her for some reason. “And he was supposed to inform you of the extent of your power.” 

This put a damper on my perception of control over my situation. “Extent of my power?”

Daring suddenly turned and grasped my face with both forelegs. Her hooves scrunched my cheeks into my skull and pulled them close to her face. “You need to listen very carefully. This knowledge is the difference between living and dying in here! Are you paying attention?”

In my position, the best I could manage were rapid nods.

“You are the dreamer. That means you can influence the dream however you find fit. Problem is, there is a price for what you will into existence. The nightmares penetrate further into your dream every time you do so. And the greater the advantage you give yourself, the harder the nightmares will try to kill you.” So much for being in control.

“So when I created that bridge, it was a nightmare that threw a tempest upon us?” Perhaps it was the same force that nearly had me the previous night.

“Actually, the nightmares have the power to do so, but it is the wielder that has the intent. And I have a feeling that Ahuizotl is the one wielding them. It would explain how he could interfere in the narrative like that.” Daring grimaced, most likely recalling her past experiences with him. Ahuizotl must have been the voice that spoke up when the bridge was destroyed. Not to mention, his minions had focused more on Daring than me, so it must mean that she and Ahuizotl were arch enemies.

It made sense; after all, every protagonist has their antagonist.

Daring released her grip on my cheeks. Her face was resolute, as if stopping Ahuizotl was the only thing that mattered now. “Alright, probie. The temple is straight ahead. If anything tries to stop us, start running.” Daring trotted down a beaten, stone-littered path into the foliage. After stretching a few terribly sore body parts, I was following her. In front of us, the top of the temple poked out of the canopy. 

Despite the fall I took earlier, I was still able to walk normally. Being incredibly durable must be part of the dream. My mind wandered back to the knife wound I suffered the other night. It dissipated when I woke up, but the pain did not - at least not all at once. I might be impervious to certain injuries, but that did not mean I could go off jumping off heights whenever I felt like it.

While I was contemplating my survivability, Daring managed to get quite ahead of me. She was already far down the beaten path, her form disappearing behind the trees that sprouted up wherever they pleased. I ran after her and almost tripped right onto my face. My hoof struck something cold and firm.

Beneath me, a sealed tin can was dug into the ground partway. On the side, the picture of carrots indicated exactly what product was inside the container. In the middle of a jungle, canned food was the last thing I expected to see. I tapped on it with the tip of my hoof. It resounded with a dull thud. As I lifted my head, a peculiar sight awaited me.

The stones on the path were never stones to begin with. A closer examination revealed that they were all sorts of manufactured goods. There was a styrofoam cup popping out of a hole in a tree trunk. A wine glass, an open envelope, and a wheel belonging to a cart of some kind lied in a ditch. A vase upturned in a shrub. Scattered eating utensils cluttered one side of the route. Cardboard boxes lined the bushes, brand new as though somepony had placed them there just recently. Every kind of product you could find in a convenience store cluttered the trail with no evidence of how they ended up here.

I quickened my pace into a gallop. As I ran, I constantly looked down in order to avoid stepping on some broken glass or a rake with its head pointed upwards. This was beyond bizarre. 

At this point, the dream must be toying with me as it was not even putting any effort in making sense. The sooner I got through with this storyline, the sooner I could get back to working on an escape plan. I did not focus on any of the materials that littered the route. It was all about closing the gap between me and Daring.

Before I reached her, she slowed down to a halt. Maybe she noticed I was not behind her? That could not be right. She was staring straight ahead for some reason...

I found out exactly what stopped Daring in her tracks when I caught up to her. Slightly above us, a snow white pegasus with a greased grey mane struggled in a mesh of vines. Somehow, the stallion managed to get himself entangled in a way that constricted his legs and wings so that he appeared to be a stiff ballerina. Just as we stumbled upon him, he was in the process of tediously chewing on a vine to cut it loose. His gold eyes fell upon me and Daring.

“Oh hey there! I might have flown right into the canopy and gotten myself stuck in all of this. This is kind of embarrassing, but can you guys get me down from here?” The ensnared pegasus sheepishly grinned at us, hoping for help from two strangers in a jungle full of lethal predators. It made no sense why a pegasus would just fly into the canopy of a tree! 

However, Daring Do was also a pegasus. Somehow, she injured her wing and stranded herself in this jungle as well. Maybe she ended up flying into the trees like our newly acquainted pegasus. It did seem very much like her.

Without even acknowledging the trapped pony, Daring focused her eyes back on the path and started trotting at a brisk pace.

“Wait! You can’t just leave me here! Can you get me out of these vines first, please?” The stallion struggled in his bonds to turn his head towards the fleeting mare.

Daring did not even chance a look back. “Remember, probie. Anything tries to stop us, start running.”

"Hey! Oh, I knew I couldn't trust a mare to help me." The trapped stallion turned to me. “Don’t leave me like this. Please.” He puckered his lips and pleaded as hard as he could using only his eyes. They invoked every bit of my pity; I just could not turn my back on a defenseless soul and leave him for whatever carnivorous beast wanders around here. I had to help-

A hoof pulled my chin and my gaze into a pair of magenta eyes. “Did you hear me? We stop for nothing.” Easy for her to say. She did not even glance at those pleading eyes.

“If we leave him out here, some panther or leopard is going to have an easy dinner! Let’s at least get him down from there.” Trying to persuade Daring is just as difficult as trying to ask a mountain to move out of the way. I could guess that the only way this could end was with my half-conscious body being dragged to the temple.

No clean knockout blow ever came. Instead, she just furrowed her brow and sighed for the umpteenth time. With half-lidded eyes, she finally looked at the stallion. She was met by the same pleading eyes that had me convinced.

She turned back to me and surprised me. For the first time, there was no scowl or smirk across her face; any trace of her pompous ego was erased. It was a genuine and jaded expression of understanding.

“He is not real. Even if he dies - he will just show up in another dream later on. We can leave him, and there will be no consequences.” Daring’s voice was even and deliberate.

“I don’t care that he may not even exist. He is the third living being I have encountered that does not want to kill me! And you are asking me to leave him for dead. I will not leave him.” Also, I would not mind a little company. Considering the ratio of hostiles and friendlies I have met so far, having somepony to talk to would be fantastic - especially if they talked to me as though I was not just a liability!

“You cannot be serious”, Daring uttered in complete deadpan.

“I am serious. We cut him loose.” I tried not to budge under her piercing gaze. There was a shuffle in the vines above us.

“I agree with him! That makes it two against one!” The pegasus eagerly voiced his view.

Daring muttered something inaudible under her breath. She rolled her eyes and scanned the ground. Her hoof scooped up a broken broom handle and smashed it against a handheld mirror leaning against a tiny stone. The surface broke into several sharp pieces the size of my eye. She pressed the broom handle to my chest with more force than necessary. With the other foreleg, she reached into a pocket on her jacket. From it came an impressively sized roll of black duct tape. This was also thrust against my poor rib cage.

“Wrap the mirror shards onto the broom with the duct tape. Use it to cut the vines holding his wings and legs.” Daring gave me my orders and proceeded to pick up a baseball bat that was sticking out of a nearby bush. 

Following her advice, I carefully slid one of the shards towards me. Next, I propped the broken end of the broom so that it pointed upwards. I could fit the mirror piece on top like a spearhead. The duct tape proved to be a little more difficult to manipulate. Without magic, there was no way for me to pull the strip off with my clumsy hooves. The roll fumbled around in my grip until I just let it drop to the soil.

A shout caught my attention. Daring was balancing on her hindlegs, swinging the bat in her mouth vigorously. She was not making a sound save for the occasional grunt. The one shouting was the tangled pegasus, who was urging Daring to buffet the vines with less force. Of course, she did not even bother letting up on her barrage, bat clenched between her teeth. Wait, that gave me an idea!

I brought the roll of duct tape to my muzzle and bit down on the strip. The roll relented as I tugged a piece off. Now, I had my means of connecting the mirror shard and the broom. Once the two materials were in place, a piece of duct tape wrapped around both of them was enough to hold the makeshift spear in place.

I grasped the broom handle in my teeth and tried to stand on two legs just like Daring. I struggled to balance myself with the uneven structure of my body. My legs wobbled like noodles, but I was now able to reach the net. I tried to sort out which vine held the pegasus’ wings, but his constant thrashing was making it a tedious effort. 

“Ah! Stop, please. Ow! Just drop the bat, it is not working! Agh!” The baseball bat was ruthless in its pummeling. However, the vines refused to give way.

Daring spat the bat out of her mouth and dropped down to all fours again. “This isn’t working. Go ahead and cut him out. Try and stay still alright buddy?” The trapped pegasus snorted.

His wings were unnaturally flared out, because a tight noose held it up at the base. My shaky stance made it especially difficult to hold the spear steady. Nevertheless, the shard made contact with the vine. Inch by inch, I was able to seesaw through the plant by pulling the spear back and forth precisely. Eventually, the vine gave way and the wing folded back against the pegasus’ side.

After a few more equally tedious cuts, the net broke apart and our new acquaintance was freed. “Oh, thank you! I don’t know how long I would have survived being entangled like that!” He flapped his wings excitedly and performed a few aerial loops under the canopy. He glided down back to us after he had his fill. “Ah, feels good to be flying again!”

Off to the side, I caught Daring glowering at her bandaged wing. She did not linger for long on it; instead, she trotted right up to the untangled pegasus. “Alright, we got you out of there. Question is, who are you supposed to be? There was not supposed to be anypony else in this part of the story.” Nothing has dumbfounded Daring since I met her, yet the presence of this one pegasus colt seemed to unnerve her. It left me asking myself just who could this guy be?

“Name’s Milky Way. You know, Daring Do’s cartographer?” He remarked with glee. His left eyebrow shifted upwards, making his perplexion all the more mischievous. 

“Cartographer?! I never had any cartographer in this novel!” 

        His grin just kept growing. “Well, I guess you didn’t study the narrative enough. I am an essential character in this chapter.”

        “What? No, you are not even part of the Daring Do series. How do we know you-”

        “-Are not one of Ahuizotl’s goons?” Milky Way completed her sentence for her, leaving her gaping in confusion. “If I was sent to stop both of you, I’m doing a pretty bad job of it. As you can see, no weapons on me!” He spread out his wings and exposed his full form. There was nothing to find except for his snow white feathers and fur. The only thing worth noting was the cutie mark he had: a bronze telescope.

        Daring performed a pat-down anyways. Her hooves brushed over his mane, his neck, his back, his wings, and his tail. The search ended quickly; there was nothing on him. “Well, you are clean. But that does not prove that you are not just an agent sent to deceive us!” Daring’s dirt-stained leg accused him. Milky Way kept his composure and directed the leg away from him. 

        “Really now. Ahuizotl may be a demi-god, but his lack of foresight is really something you should be very familiar with. He would rather hit you head-on than send a spy and plan an ambush.” Not a word came out of Daring. She was too busy staring daggers into his head. Suddenly, Milky Way turned his attention to me. He dropped his grin and peered right into my eyes. “I know you must be the most confused of us. Just know this, Intimus - I am here as a friend.” 

        “But, how - How do know you know my name?”

        “Really. Who doesn’t know your name here?” It was a valid point. Both the Alchemist and Daring knew who I was without introduction. What made Milky Way any different? His jolly attitude made him seem affable... and strangely familiar.

Milky Way spun around and lifted a leg in the direction of the temple. By now, it was just a short jog away. “C’mon then! We have a Sapphire Stone to nab!” Without another word, he was merrily walking down the trail.

Daring and I exchanged looks. I could tell Daring was seriously doubting the intentions of our new companion. Me? Honestly, I felt kind of relieved to see him. Although I have my suspicions, he does not appear to be someone who would stab me in the back. Besides, the alternative was getting bossed around by the heroine, Daring Do.

I could make out the demonic structure in front of the pyramid that served as its entrance. Even in broad daylight, the ruby-crusted eyes pierced through the foliage. It sent a clear foreboding message to any who planned on entering through its mouth. Somewhere in there was some kind of treasure called the Sapphire Stone and the next part of the narrative.

> Of Tropes and Liars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

An utterly one-sided conversation.

        Milky Way skipped on the trail, spouting random comments about the jungle and anything from there. Any tad bits I managed to make out rarely fit any previous context. One moment, he was questioning how a novel would appear inside the head of a color-blind pony; in the next instance, he was thanking us once again for saving him. It was as if every thought that crossed his mind just exited out through his mouth.

        I was thankful though to pull my thoughts away from the sundry sounds of the shrubbery lining the trail. Every so often, there would be some call from a jungle bird or the suppressed rustle of a disturbance on the grass. I found myself looking backwards more often than looking forward - the ground we covered wavered as if a heat wave was rolling through it. Already, I could spot the edge of the world where a void chipped away at any details we had passed.

        Daring Do was more silent than ever before, trotting with careful precision in every step. Her eyes were attracted to even the slightest noise that was not coming out of our loquacious acquaintance. My makeshift spear was pinned to her side by her good wing in a prime spot that would allow her to draw it in a moment’s notice.

        Still, when it was just the both of us, Daring at least spoke a few sentences to me - mostly in the form of orders. Now, she was not even uttering a word or grumbling something underneath her breath. It could just be a way to avoid having to contend with the one-pony conversation practically dancing the few meters separating us from the monolith.

        Maybe it was her way of getting back at my act of defiance earlier. Here I was, a stallion with not enough sense to back away when a panther was right in front of me, ignoring Daring’s advice and believing it was a good idea to free a complete stranger in a place where everything was a predator. 

Honestly, it would have cost me nothing - no shame or guilt - to leave Milky Way entangled. It would be cruel to do so, but I cannot recall ever being a saint. Why did I free him? I do not know anymore about him than what he claims to be. However, he seems like a genuinely amiable pony, especially compared to Miss famed Daring Do. Admittedly, he is a little too talkative for our situation, but it was a better alternative to reticence. Was that it then? Was it just for company?

One thing was for certain, Daring Do was the kind of pony that was used to having others listen to her... but not used to anything different.

“...Just one more time, I can’t thank you two enough for getting me out of those vines! They had me constricted like chains, and they were tough as chains to chew through too! Tasted like over-salted hay fries. Bleugh. Now that I think about it, cooks do that on purpose, right - make abundant, cheap food that only makes us hungrier so we come back for more? But hey, it’s a salty hay fry world; somebody’s got to pay for another’s luxuries. Did I mention how thankful I am for that rescue? I think I did. Yes... yes I did,” Milky Way confirmed with himself and ceased talking for the first time since we untangled him.

Daring leaped on this opportunity. She held up a hoof and brought all of us to a stoppage on the trail. “I hate to interrupt your personal revelations, but you still haven’t told us who you are yet.”

Our companion blinked twice. “I told you. I’m your professional cartographer and assistant in the quest for the Sapphire Stone!” Milky Way replied with a title drop. There was no noticeable doubt in his voice.

“Well last time I checked, astronomy was not required for becoming a cartographer, so why do you have a telescope for a cutie mark?” the adventurer asserted. Something clicked in my mind, and a fool I was for not figuring it out myself. The evidence debunking his lie was right in front of us the whole time! How did I not pick that up?

The falsified cartographer should have expressed shock or some anger at being revealed - at least a lapse in his composure or something. Instead, the accused paused and looked at his rump before shrugging his shoulders. “Oh. I’ll have to make sure to change that next time I lie about my identity. Clever filly you are to figure that out!” Daring deliberately narrowed her stare on the stallion in question.

“What did you call me?” The question came out as more of an order - imposing implied threats that would make a drill sergeant proud. The spear quivered slightly against her side as uninjured wing muscles tensed. 

Milky Way appeared not to have even noted the change in Daring’s voice. “A clever filly. It’s hard to find those nowadays; although, I’d expect being an archaeologist might even help a mare achieve the same level of wit as any average stallion.” He spoke every word eloquently with oblivious bravado. The silence that superseded the comment was like irksome sawdust, making breathing an even more laborious task.

Wait... was he?

“So, in your opinion, males are superior to females in every way, yes?”

“Well, of course! Dominant sex and all. And mares are, just plainly put, dumber and weaker - no offense to you, Daring. I’ll admit, you have quite an exceptional swing!” Milky Way complimented, before turning around to check his flank. A sizeable area of his coat was already a darkened red.

Daring snorted without even eying the bruise. “Hmph. Maybe I need to swing harder next time. It seems that bat was not enough to enlighten your chauvinistic flank on gender impartiality!”

That one pulled Milky Way right from nursing himself to becoming light on his hooves. “Wait a second, Daring! I meant what I said in a good way!”

“How so?”

Our acquaintance opened his mouth but closed it immediately. After a few seconds, he began, “Um, well what I meant by the whole ‘archaeologist’ thing is that you’ve got a good eye! And lots of brains! Heck, you could be as smart as me.”

“That’s a low bar to jump over.”

“Ouch!” Milky Way imitated a blow to the chest, displaying artificial pain in a facial expression that resembled something like a pressing need to relieve oneself. “You stung me bad, Daring. I don’t think I can make a counter to that!”

“You aren’t weaseling out of this one! You insult an entire gender and expect to go free with a mare armed with a spear?” Just for display, she reeled the weapon from her side with one smooth rustle of her good wing. A hoof gripped the spear and pulled it out in front of her so that the blunt end thumped against the jungle floor.

Things were getting out of hoof. I needed to get Daring to calm down... without getting stabbed in the process. I took a couple of steps forwards, keeping two or three meters from the pair of arguing ponies. “We don’t need to threaten him, Daring. I-I think he understa-”

“Quiet probie!” She shouted and shot me a dismissive scowl. My mouth froze around the final syllable.

        “His name is Intimus,” Milky Way suddenly interjected. Two pairs of startled eyes turned to the speaker, mine included of course. But with a quick dart of my pupils, I managed to catch Daring, on a rare occasion, gaping.

        Daring seemed fazed for a moment - almost as if she just realized how crazy her whole attitude was. Alas, it went as soon as it came, and she regained her footing with a firm reply: “I know that.”

        “Then why not call him by his name?”

        “...It’s just a nickname. What does it matter? It won’t make him forget who he is… at least whatever he still remembers.”

        “Still, it’s all he has. You could at least be decent enough to call him by his first name.” Milky Way chose his words carefully, never diverting his focus from the makeshift spear in Daring’s hoof.
        
        “Okay, okay! Intimus! And shut your trap, Milky Way. I’m not through with you.” The adventurer turned and gave me a softer, but all the same stern, gaze. “Intimus, honestly, don’t tell me you trust me this guy.”

        “I mean… Of course I don’t trust him, but we shouldn’t be so ready to lunge at him with a, um, very - pointy - piece of glass. I don’t think he would pull out a knife and try to murder us.” 

It was a speculation but also a reasonable point. There was just no way somepony as ludicrous as Milky Way could suddenly become a cold-hearted murderer. He followed up with something hurriedly muttered that I could only guess was confirmation of my conclusion.

Daring raised an eyebrow. “You just don’t believe anypony would betray you, huh?” Her voice had been brought down several volumes until it was a whisper. It was nearly out of earshot, but I did not dare to misunderstand the question. With a roll the eyes and a prolonged sigh, she continued, “This is the kind of gullible logic that will get you killed, Intimus. Nothing is certain here in the dream.”

Admittedly, she was probably right. All of the evidence seemed to portray our new companion as a hostile in disguise - or at least a detrimental distraction. All of my logical reasoning told me trusting Milky Way was a bad idea, but there was just something, whether it was my foolish gut instinct or a familiarity I could not recall, about him that told me otherwise.

But in truth, that peculiar feeling alone would not have convinced me to drag him along. Between waking up without a clue of who I was and narrowly escaping a pack of jungle predators, I have only met two sentient individuals who have not attempted to kill me (well Daring only held me down for one mortifying minute). Considering how neither of them were really all too keen on making friends, I was not entirely willing to throw away a chance at becoming amicable with someone as spirited as Milky Way.

Goodness, Intimus. You are pathetic.

        “Does he seem like the kind of pony that would stab us in the flank when we’re looking the other way?” I offered. The adventurer snorted at the question.

        With not a skip in confidence, she replied, “One can be superficially charming yet a cold killer at heart.” 

        “Do you suspect everypony you meet of being a murderer?”

        “Well considering that Milky Way isn’t even supposed to be here, I have my suspicions.” She gave a sidelong glare to the mentioned pegasus; he ceased any bored shenanigans he was busying himself with. Daring turned back and swiftly propped up the spear in clear sight of Milky Way. “        After all, he lied to us, Intimus. He’s hiding something - obviously it has to do with why he appeared at a convenient time and place.”

        “How about all of this stuff that is just lying around us? I’m pretty sure food cans aren’t native to the jungle.”

Daring retorted, “Those are only there because your subconscious likes to dump random bits of your imagination into one dream.”

“Aren’t you and Milky Way just figments of my imagination?” The broom stick handle of the spear creaked a muffled scream as the mustard hoof clenched around it squeezed. Daring’s right eye twitched for just the slightest moment, more conspicuously than before, and her mouth forgot momentarily to close when she was not talking. Tiny disturbances in her complexion rippled across her facade of detachment; they ceased as suddenly as they began.

After her guise was recomposed, she struck back with renewed vigor. “Why are you protecting him? What’s convinced you into believing that he’s here to help?”

A dozen of plausible but laughable reasons jumped to mind. My mind hesitated for longer than a moment. “I don’t know,” I finally conceded.

Daring sighed, this time not out of frustration but as if some grievous burden on her back had been alleviated. “Well then, we can afford to cut him loose.” Shockingly, the response came as casually as an invitation to lunch! She was only trying to protect us, but this was another pony - somepony who might actually treat me as more than luggage - we were going to leave for dead!

“But we could at least ask him a few questions! I-if he’s hiding anything from us, we can back him into a corner and make him reveal his secrets. We might just find out what, um - Ahuizotl is up to!” It was a long shot, but mentioning Ahuizotl appeared to be my best shot at convincing my guide that Milky Way still had some value to us.

Just as I hoped, Daring’s eyes lit up in recognition, the not-so-happy recall variant, of that name. She replied with reluctance teeming every word, “Fine, but make it quick, probie.”

“Intimus,” Milky Way interjected.

Daring swung around with stunning velocity to deliver the white pegasus a purely baleful scowl. She whipped out her reply just as quickly: “I got it! Intimus! Okay?” Before steam came funneling out of her ears, Daring held herself back and repressed her outburst of rage until it was little more than a forlorn expression of irritation.

She cleared her throat of strident notes and continued, “we’re going to squeeze some truth out of you, Milky Way. I wouldn’t even think of lying, if I were you.” She tapped the ground a couple of times with the spear as a reminder of said weapon. With that out of the way, Daring nodded to me to begin asking my questions.

“Alright, are you a spy?” My first question hardly seemed to penetrate Milky Way’s guise. He threw himself into an exaggerated state of quizzicality. With a hoof tapping on the chin of his muzzle, Milky Way looked for an answer in the canopies of towering trees. His mouth slanted from one side to another as he developed an answer in his mind. 

Wait, was he mocking me?... Yes, he was mocking me! 

Finally, his mouth plateaued, his eyes flashed forwards to stare at me, and his hoof froze mid-way through his repetitive tapping. Milky Way gathered himself and spoke, “Hmm... nah.”

I turned to face Daring for some kind of assistance, but an apathetic frown came as a response - as if to say “This is what you wanted. Now convince me with the time I allowed you to have.” She broke eye contact and stood stone still, watching the trail behind us with unbreakable focus.

I could not afford to ask blatant questions; they were too easy to dismiss. I needed to get past Milky Way’s frivolity and get some real answers out of him. I supposed it was time to change my interrogation method.

Milky Way must have noticed my lapse into deep thought, because he immediately brought me back to reality... er, the dream. “C’mon now. Don’t go off into wonderland on me.”

“Just give me a moment... okay, what do you remember before you landed here?”

I could have sworn Milky Way’s trademark grin grew in exponential size when he heard the question. His response came as enthusiastic as ever: “The most I actually remember is drifting along without cause or need from one dream to another. It’s sort of like opening books to some random page and jumping right in! Of course, Daring Do can probably explain more about that than me.” The mare mentioned expelled an unmuffled grunt.

“Tell me more about these dreams, Milky Way.”

“Sometimes, I find myself wandering aimlessly in a large crowd as just a familiar face in your dreams. Other times, I’m right next to you believe it or not.” In the middle of his sentence, I glanced over at Daring Do. The scowl she wore seemed to imply she had some kind of suspicion but no significant reason to act on it. “All of a sudden, I go from background pony to the main character just slightly out of the spotlight. Afterwards, it becomes you and me in whatever absurd situation we find ourselves in. And a vivid imagination you have indeed, Intimus! Whole worlds have been created by your sleeping, dreaming self.”  

Thus this world had been constructed by me. It was just a reminder of my subconscious state, yet the fact that I had designed everything here still left me wondering how such a minuscule individual like myself could have the powers of a god. Nevertheless, it was not the answer I was looking for.

My inquiry continued: “If you are so prevalent in my dreams, how can I be sure you are somepony I trust in real life and not somepony I fear enough to obsess over?”

        “Well… I don’t know how I can actually prove it. All I can tell you is that I’m your perception of the real Milky Way, so how I act is entirely - okay maybe just majorly - left up to the way you see me!” Milky Way replied with an answer that was unsure in itself whether to distinguish itself as an obvious lie or an awkward truth.

        “That’s it!” The literary heroine interjected into my questioning. “We’ve wasted enough time for this. You’re free to leave, Milky Way. Fly off or something, but just stay away.”

        Milky Way started towards us. He began, “I know it’s hard to see any reason why, Daring, but you have to believe me-”. In a heartbeat, the jagged end of the spear’s glass tip was inches from Milky Way’s neck. Our vague incomer froze in the middle of his walk, locking his eyes on the weapon primed to take his life.

        “Not another step forward!”

        “C’mon Daring... Just put- just wai- that’s not fair for him.” In my haste, words scrambled out of my mouth without even the slightest care.

        She shot me a hostile, challenging glare from the corner of her eye. If the lunging position her body was fixed in was anything to go by, Daring could very well close the distance between the spear and Milky Way within the time it takes for me to advance one step. Without one lapse in her threat, she brought up an old blister: “Weren’t you supposed to get some information about our enemy from him?”

        Now I was the one with a spear thrown right in my face; albeit, I was not taking it as literally as Milky Way. “Well, I mean, that was partly my goal...” Curse my instinctive honesty for ceding such a weak statement.

        From there, Daring could read me like a plotted cliche. “And I’m guessing your main goal was to prove to me this male chauvinistic dolt is trustworthy?”

        “...Yeah.”

        A long, unsuppressed sigh found its way out of the adventurer’s impenetrable shell. “You’re the only one here who can get answers, Intimus. Him and you will have one more question to convince me of his trustworthiness, but the answer I get better be without any of his usual subterfuge.” Daring’s hoof reinforced her firm grip on the spear, and with a subtle nudge, the piercing tip overcame a couple of inches further towards Milky Way.

        Watching the hapless stallion flinch in expectation of the death blow, I just could not hold myself back any longer. “Daring!”

        “Now, ask him, how he knows your name.” The adventurer was motionless, poised to follow through with her threat.

        “But-”

        “Ask him... how he knows your name.”

        “How can we tell if his response is the truth?”

        “I’ll be the judge of that. Question him.”

        There was no other option but to comply. With nothing to show after all those futile pleas, the act of facing Milky Way took all the stallion bravery I had in me. The words were juggled around in my mind, yet any attempt to sugarcoat the question returned less than pleasing results. I turned my eyes to a growing crop on the ground and asked, “How do you really know my name?... Be honest with me, Milky Way.”

        The crop did not answer and neither did Milky Way, for a minute anyways. The answer Daring wanted was finally delivered after a full sixty seconds of listening to jungle cacophony: “The Alchemist.”

        “Celestia be my witness,” Daring uttered. My head snapped up to see the archaeologist turn her whole body away to stare idly towards the ground, taking the spear with her. Milky Way collapsed onto shaky fours, refreshing in the renewed freedom of motion. His face expressed a foreboding similar to the one Daring held. Yet considering how he acknowledged to knowing the Alchemist earlier, I probably should have seen this coming.

        And with every answer, there came the questions. I sorted through the mess in my mind and chose the most pressing: “The Alchemist? What’s wrong with him, Daring?”

        Daring searched the soil and formed a scowl that was soon accompanied by a low growl. “If he’s here because of the Alchemist... It means that stubborn stallion feels he needs insurance. And for me of all ponies! He’s definitely getting second thoughts about our deal.”

        ‘Our deal?’ I hesitated on whether or not to inquire further on those two words; Milky Way continued his confession in the meanwhile.

        “The Alchemist told me where to find you two, and all the information I would need to gain your trust,” Milky Way admitted reluctantly. Perhaps unable to help me directly or unable to trust Daring Do, the Alchemist must have sent our companion to make sure things were running smoothly - armed with pre-determined answers to my questions.

        The realization dropped a weight right into my stomach. The effect was similar to being inflicted with an airborne nerve contagion, from which my mind became a breeding ground for hazy thoughts and alien feelings. A speaker from the back of my fog-shrouded conscience was telling me to have nothing to do with the polar white stallion before me, and I listened to that alien voice. It told me to abandon that familiar inclination I had earlier, and I complied. How could I have been so foolish to seek a friend in a complete stranger?

When I looked up to stare at Milky Way, he met my eyes with huge golden saucers for a brevity before losing the will to answer my unspoken accusation. Despite how adversely I saw him now, I could not blame Milky Way for turning away; a revealed liar always finds it difficult to speak truth to his naive suspect. “So, those details about your memories… were they…?” my subconscious inquired with my voice.

        The response came quick as a wink. “No, they’re true! I think.” Milky Way bit his lip just as confirmation of conflict within his own sanctuary of mind. 

Daring’s cynical perspective of other ponies suddenly sounded a lot more appealing. 

He recovered soon enough and countered, “But that just proves that I’m an ally, yes? So… if we could just, uh, forgive all around and, ah, continue the adventure?...”

        The sheepish smile from our cohort was greeted by the return of the makeshift spear, stuck right up to Milky Way’s throat again. Instead of staring with wide eyes and a neglected open jaw, he snorted at the renewed death threat.
        
        “Seriously? I’ve been smacked in the rump by a bat and threatened with a really sharp piece of glass attached to a broomstick, what, twice now?” Milky Way complained. However, his frown paled before the purely caustic glare that has become as much of an accessory as her pith hat.

        Daring gladly explained what was already known: “So you’re not our enemy, but you’re still a spy. You lied to us yet again, Milky Way. Did you really expect us to just forgive and bring you along?” If she was trying to shame the stallion, her efforts were ineffective. Milky Way merely gazed with a lower brow than usual and patiently lowered the spear with a hoof.

        For a moment’s pause, our ally collected his thoughts and responded, “I unrightfully deceived the both of you. Daring, I know you despise me ever more because of my association with the Alchemist, but I can tell you right now from the bottom of my heart that he has no intention of breaking a promise - or a business deal.” Daring rolled her eyes towards the depths of the woods, yet surprisingly, she expulsed no grumble or contemptuous snort.

Now, Milky Way shifted his attention to me. His impregnable stare softened and lowered his physical barriers so I could peer into his head, revealing all of his thoughts. Even when he noticed my expression had become estranged, his eyes never relinquished their radiance - like that of the sun once it broke out of the clouds. I could barely catch my own face in the reflection off his pupils; apathy most certainly must have dulled the light in my eyes.

“I, uh, can’t say that I have any real memories. That - lie - I told you; that lie was just given to me by the Alchemist just as a way to keep you from suspecting I was here for any reason other than to help. I don’t know if they’re even true or not, but I do know what purpose I have here.

“My purpose is to make sure, first of all, that you actually survive this whole ordeal. Then, I will help you remember who you are, because that’s what the real Milky Way would do.” He stopped and chuckled at some entertaining idea. “Heh, that’s an incredibly cheesy speech if I ever heard one.”

        As hard as I might try, it was difficult to find more reasons to ignore the familiarity I felt towards Milky Way. He had blatantly lied to me two times already, but he had good intentions behind the deception. Maybe I was just pathetic or just as gullible as Daring thought I was; nevertheless, Milky Way was somepony I could trust in this nightmare.

        “I forgive you,” I answered. Daring Do threw her hooves up and sat on the ground. Her monochrome mane fell over capitulating magenta eyes. Now her scowl just resembled a slighted line from cheek to cheek. When her forelegs touched ground again, she sighed once in a thousand times more. 

        “So, that’s it huh? No amount of debasement or ‘reveal of the liar’ is going to change your mind about bringing him along?” she spoke with a dejected kind of venom, as if she already knew what the answer was going to be.

        And the answer was a respectful shake of my head. I tried to do it in such a manner that did not further insult the adventurer. Daring’s eyes wandered from the void behind us to the temple we were just paces from reaching. They tossed one last futile dagger at Milky Way, who shrugged it off, and finally landed on me.

        “Okay then.” As if a fresh new battery had been inserted into her body, Daring Do propelled herself off the ground back on all fours. Her trademark grin, oozing with ego and reckless anticipation, returned to grace her facade as the protagonist. “Now, we’re going to have to move fast to make up for lost time! But first, a few ground rules to keep both of your hides intact when we enter the temple. One! No sexist comments or I’ll throw you into the first dart wall booby trap.” Milky Way rubbed his leg and pivoted his muzzle the other way. “Two! Listen to everything I say. Don’t question it. Just listen… And three!” For this next regulation, our leader brought a hoof to her chin for several seconds to concentrate. When the train of thought was refueled, her eyes lit up.

        “And three! Don’t. Touch. Anything.” That was one way to nail home the moral. Without so much as asking if we grasped everything she said, Daring made for the clearing where the ancient edifice stood.

        From the outside, the temple looked like a layer cake of several colossal pieces of stone - precisely cut to various sizes from largest at the bottom to smallest at the top. The sloped surfaces were defaced by various blotches accumulated from weathering over time. As though the ominous, feline face engraved on the pyramid was not enough to raise a few alarms, the staircase ascending further into its dark interior checked all the boxes for this bad idea.

        It seemed like the perfect vacation spot for the fearless Daring Do. Milky Way and I were galloping just to maintain the distance between us and her. We were halfway out of the woods when she reached the first step. She turned around and beckoned us forward with one spasmodic foreleg before sprinting up the staircase into the shadows.

There is no way we were going in there, and I am sure Milky Way would agree. But when I turned to share my list of reasonable excuses for not venturing inside the temple with my colleague, my worst fears were realized. He had that look: the look that only faces looking for trouble would wear as a look. Milky Way smirked right at the feline face engraved on the death monolith. I only gawked at him.        

He unfurled his wings and met my pleading eyes. Without so much as a lapse in his smile, he exclaimed, “Well c’mon then Intimus! We can’t let ‘her’ take the lead!” He hopped and beat his wings. His form blurred and shot at the staircase, halting temporarily to re-adjust the angle of his ascent. One blink later, and he was consumed by the edifice as well.

There was no way I was going to do it. Nope. Nothing could make me wander inside THAT thing with no idea of what to expect! Nothing at all! 

My right foreleg betrayed me and advanced. Its left counterpart soon joined in. One appendage after another began moving without orders - committing the ultimate mutiny any soldier (well body part) of misfortune could achieve.

I need to stop right now. My two allies right now are possibly getting themselves mangled in some unthinkable trap! They could be dead! It would be a very scarring sight.

The temple staircase filled up my peripheral vision; the first stone step was just inches away.

Even if it might not be real, the sun out here is refreshing (ignoring the mosquitoes and the humidity and the other maladies that accompany them)! Inside, there is no natural heating, only the pitch cold rooms of some cramped monument built who knows how long ago. There are just so many good reasons why staying outside is better! 

My hooves carried me up the first half of the staircase.

Still a chance to go back! Daring and Milky Way would understand; after all, they can grab the sapphire-whatever-it-may-be and get back here in one piece! Just. Stop. Moving.

And these confounded legs eventually did obey. Except, they chose to start listening once I was right behind my two guides - inside a tight, narrow, confined, five ponies wide, slim hallway with elementary torch lighting. And just for good measure, the exit was a fine quarter of a kilometer away.

On a brighter note, the insulation here is not half bad.

> Dreaming in a Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A very tight hallway.

        By the time I realized how close the walls were and how high the ceiling was, Daring noticed my entry. She was a meter ahead with Milky Way at her right, surveying the dust tray that constituted the entirety of the floorwork. Just making it up here gave her the idea that I was ready to dive right into the maelstrom of madness - she would consider it a pot of adventurer’s gold - when all my instincts voted for a hasty retreat back to sunlight.

        “Stay put where you are,” she curtly notified me before returning to her idle behavior. Not to say there was not time to turn around and make a dash down the staircase, but she was literally the guide to navigating this puzzling world. The image of the void behind us on the path reinforced my reasoning; I would not get far before stumbling off a cliff.

        Just leave it up to the dream to fill in the gaps with, well, nothing. I obeyed Daring’s command, watching contently from the temple’s entrance. In the case that either she or Milky Way activated a trap, I would be only a heartbeat from sunlight. The thought of having such a close emergency exit was the only reason why I was not losing my mind like I was in the last dream.

        Though the pile of bones with an Equine skull sitting nearby hardly helped me keep my resolve. I did not even want to know how that poor soul’s skeleton ended up like that! And the two ponies in front of me were planning on transversing what was essentially every way to have one’s joints snapped and mutilated?

        And I was content to let the only two ponies I knew (saying that I knew the Alchemist was a far stretch from truth) be the first ones caught in this ancient pony grinder. It was either I convince them out of this or I join them hoof in hoof to our deaths. One option was impossible for them, and the other was impossible for me. Why did I have to dream of Daring Do’s adventures and not of a pleasant session in front of a fireplace?

        Given that no order has been given to move forwards yet, I had ample time to absorb the surroundings. The walls were practically giant slabs of faded red stone separated by tiered, black columns. Each pillar had its own attached statue of some kind of chimera made from an owl and a monkey. In the outstretched arms of the hybrid, flames flickered in clay bowls. The inconstant lighting cast a scratchy glow on the slabs’ engravings, giving them the illusion of animation.

        The torches cast the same glow on my companions, exaggerating Daring’s uncompromising composure and Milky Way’s sidelong glance. Wait. Milky Way was not just staring at the adventurer but examining every single twitch of movement with unwavering focus etched on his face - he was analysing her like a cryptic manuscript. His golden eye suddenly centered on me, and sure enough Milky Way gave me a smile before turning forwards again. What was he just doing?

        “Rule one of archaeology,” Daring suddenly interjected; the hallway was happy enough to amplify her words. “Watch the ground at all times. Stay close behind me and follow my steps.” She did not turn around, throwing herself to the task of surveying the floor with the scrutiny of a floor inspector. 

Forget I made that analogy; Daring checked the ground carefully.

        Still facing forward, Daring tapped on her spear, and Milky Way trotted into place behind her. Once he stopped on all fours, she followed up with a stomp of her hoof and a flick of her tail. Hoping to avoid violating rule two of Daring’s ground rules, I dared not ask and simply got into position behind Milky Way. Soon, we were snaking along on a serpentine path Daring navigated through the hall. It was only when the natural lighting of the entrance was behind us did I start to freak out. Just a little.

        Each step echoed somewhere in the back of the temple, taunting us for our refusal to heed its warnings. It was like the whole building was just waiting to come down and extinguish the feeble flames - we would drown in the darkness and cramped space!… But at least it would rid me of the symbols and pictographs on the walls. Under the torches, the lines and shapes shifted with each flicker of the glow.

        The crude drawings of what I assume are equines bared their teeth, shooting me hungry grins. The worn portions of wall between the lines slithered throughout their frames like the darkness in those monsters I ran from last nightmare. Empty eyes. Malicious predatory smiles.

        An illusion of animation right? It has to be an illusion - my imagination just conjuring beasts that are not there! Yet if they conjured out of nowhere last time, what is not to say it could happen right now? For all I know, those things from last time could pop right out of the picture with its knife drawn-.

        My lower body exclaimed in alarm at the reminder. A wound that should not have been there opened and disappeared after departing another attack on my conscience. The nerves near my cutie mark were rattled, caught wondering whether their deaths were reality or a dream. I clamped down hard on my tongue; the sting there at least distracted me from my flank.

“Guergh.” A slither of my suffering made itself vocal. And when the only sounds to be heard were my haggard breathing and our slow clops on the floor, my outburst was the equivalent of a trumpet in a muted orchestra. At least two pairs of ears raised themselves at the offending noise. 

What are you doing, brain! I cannot disturb Daring; she is the only thing keeping us alive in this deathtrap! It was an effort enough for her to lug me this far, but my weakness was only making it harder for everyone here.

What do am I supposed to do when I start to panic? Breathe? I suck in a waff of the awful air here, and immediately choke on the dust. Quietly. I get through at least one convulsion before the foul intruder is routed, leaving behind fuzzy carnage in my throat. Just to confirm, breathing in and out in the face of death: bad idea.

Come on. Keep composed, Intimus. Rule two. Do not question it. Do not question the strength of your guiding adventurer in an ancient temple full of traps. Do not- who am I kidding? This place is a living colossus with all intent to kill us! The walls could very well be its intestines, closing in to snuff our lives out! The shifting texture of the wall, the way it flows into itself without order or pattern, was testament to that theory.

Abominations growled impatiently in the crevices where the faint light failed to cover. There was water dripping somewhere, speeding up with every grumble emitted from the hidden beasts. Suddenly, the walls were closer than they had been before, closing in to give the abominations a chance to tear us apart! The climax was approaching: The shadows jumping at us, the walls closing in, and our assimilation to become the sustenance of this living-!

“Psst, Intimus. Can you hear me?” came the blessed words needed to break the silence! I was aware of my senses once again, stopping to double check the walls on either side of me. The pictograms and symbols were there - not moving. Our clops were the only sounds reverberating through the hall - not a single peep from any shadows. We were still walking stoically into the depths of the temple along Daring’s imaginary path.

No monsters wielding knives. No intestines for walls… What made me think of that? No reaction at all from the building. We were safe. We were safe. Oh, thank you-

“Intimus? You there?” the voice came again. It did not take me long to recognize Milky Way’s mellow voice with its signature bravura. Ah, he must have heard me practically breaking down in my panic.

“Yeah. I’m still here,” my own voice sounded parched and paled as it faded into espirando.

The stallion in front of me whispered through the side of his mouth, “I just wanted to ask you something: are you really unable to remember anything?” Rows of teeth scraped against one another as his lower jaw left and right without thought. After what seemed to be a moment of reconsideration, he added, “Sorry if that came out a little forceful. I just wanted to know.”

Just keep talking, please. Once I was sure a full ponylength was between us, I gave my reply: “No, it’s a question I’m comfortable answering, but I can’t remember a thing from that first day.”

The back of Milky Way’s head tilted to the right. We walked in dreaded quiet, save for the beat of our synchronized hoofsteps, for a few seconds longer. The pegasus continued just as I began to question his silence, “No vague hints? No flashbacks or sudden epiphanies?”

“Can’t say I have had any.” It was the honest truth. I was not ready to reveal anything important beyond what he already knew, but then again, I did not have anything to reveal - only a name everyone here would recognize. And when the whole world is working against me, what does it matter if I give up a little information? My own subconscious was more dangerous than this dishonest stallion! 

        The liar in question, Milky Way, tapped his chin and looked upwards to the ceiling abyss. “That’s a shame, but it’s not a huge problem. Repressed memories have a way of returning with time.” If the knowledge let him down, he made no show of it. With a swing of his muzzle, Milky Way shot me half a smile and a reassuring, or extremely naive, expression of confidence.
        
He was trying to reassure me, but his attempt only made me dwell further on the horrors that awaited me. How long would it take for me to even recall those memories?

        I barely survived last night and nearly became another animal’s meal in this dream. My survival up to this point was thanks to a slim bit of luck and Daring’s intervention; in a couple more nights, what is not to say I might get a knife slit across my throat? If my experience on the second day was anything to go by, chances were the shock might be more than  I can handle.

        And… I might die without ever knowing who I am - well, was. I had a life before this whole mess: maybe a family, a house larger than that small hotel room, ambitions, an identity. Just a fatal injury could take that all away from me. What would be taken away? Would anyone miss me? 

I want to know. I want to know what I have to lose!

In my short-lived revelation, I had somehow stopped in my path. Already, Daring and Milky Way were within the threshold of the next room - several meters away. Shaking my head, I trotted at a moderate pace to catch up to them.

        Time. Milky Way said it would come in time. Out of everything he has told me so far, I will hold that statement as an indisputable truth. Even if it turned out to be a lie meant to keep me calm, it was something to keep me going.

        If I ever wanted to escape that prison and remember who I was, I would have to survive.

        My weight shifted as one of my hooves lost level with the others. I shot a look downwards. There was a edged depression where my foreleg had pressed down a tile. Within a blink of an eye, the creaking of mechanisms deep within the infrastructure resounded through the room.

        Daring and Milky Way only then discovered I was still a couple meters behind; they looked at me as though I were a petulant weed and the harbinger of destruction respectively. That was the last moment of peace we would have before the whole temple came crashing down around us.

        Rule one of archaeology: watch the ground at all times.

The floor shook with the roar of complex machinery grinding through dust and time. Before the first chunks of the ceiling landed around me, I was already a tail behind my two companions. We entered the next hallway just as the temple unveiled its ancient armory.

        A portion of the wall to our right flipped around to reveal a wall completely riddled with evenly spaced holes. As though driven by instinct, Daring tackled Milky Way to the ground as a screen of darts blurred onto the other wall right above them. I stopped right where I was, gaping at the precise placement of each shot from the broadside. What possessed the architects of this deathtrap to make such an elaborate barrage?
        
        A sharp click echoed overhead. I shifted my head upwards in time to see two tethered logs swinging in from both sides on me. Fortunately, a vicious slap to my forelegs threw me to the ground; I came within inches from becoming an Intimus-sandwich… I got up and looked for Milky Way and Daring.

        The former was helping the latter to her hooves as she scrambled to pick up the makeshift spear - right next to where I fell from death. One mental thank-you later, I was running past the two towards the other end of the hall. Their clops soon joined mine as we covered a good meter without falling prey to any sort of-. An eldritch abomination’s scream grew steadily louder and increasingly shrill from the shadows.

        “Incoming projectile from-!” Milky Way managed to yelp before some sort of dull thud cut him off with a gasp. I turned around to see what had taken him down, earning me yet another smack to the side of my leg. Just the jolt of shock was enough to throw me to the unfortunately uncushioned floor.

My skull embraced the stone with no grace whatsoever. My head cracked open upon impact, inviting a complete breakdown in my brain. Besides the screams in my ears (it could be the abomination’s or mine; with a headache of this intensity, it does not really matter, does it?), the most I could do was stare unfocused at the towering form of Daring with the improvised weapon.

She ducked just as the screams flew overhead and past her. The source of the tortured symphony was a flailing fireball - a beach ball sized furry projectile with four scarred appendages. A monkey - an alive one at that - on fire. Shot at a ridiculously ballistic speed. Ancient civilizations are downright cruel; actually, the writer of this adventure is cruel.

“On your hooves, Intimus!” Daring nudged me hard with the spear once she was up. Without so much as turning around, she used her undamaged wing to snap a pair of incoming arrows mid-flight. Right afterwards, her hindhoof half-bucked the still recovering Milky Way out of the path of a spinning chain. Her eyes never left my lying form as all of it happened. “You have five seconds before that tile underneath you converts into a plate of spikes.”

Without needing to shout, she got me standing once more despite the chaos in my rattled head. Sure enough, as Daring foresaw, the tile flipped over to reveal some perfectly cut spikes. Daring darted past me; my mind was not clear enough to do anything more than follow. 

I think Milky Way was keeping up from behind. Then again, I was a bit too occupied to check. As for the flaming monkey who probably suffered the least enjoyable death by flaming splatter, there was honestly no time for sentimentality.

And there was really no time for any kind of thinking. We just ran and pushed through the next creative way to die. The pattern repeated with every trap we encountered: flamethrowers, razor-edged wires, spikes, bottomless pits, crushing plates, crushing plates with spikes attached. Daring reacted before the temple could even reel out its surprises and saved both Milky Way and me from grotesque deaths via a rough shove or whack with her trusty spear.

My head and lungs pounded in sync; the ground became ice under my light hooves. I glided across the surface with the threshold of the next room in the center of my hazy focus. Of course, I would have to realign my attention every second or so after Daring snaps us into safety.

By the time we cleared the closing doorway, my body was covered with stinging bruises, synchronizing their swollen beating with my taxed heart. Wait, she just saved me with those brutal strikes! I could have become a mangled corpse if Daring had not whacked me around like rotten produce! What do I have to whine about? My mind is just rambling at this point. Just calm down… Recover your breathing, Intimus… 

Okay. Okay. Steady breathing. Thinking rationally again.

In my adrenaline rush, I had completely forgotten about Milky Way. The half-buck Daring had unleashed on him to save his life must have left a considerable impact on his chest - he grimaced with every breath he took. Like me, his coat sported a multitude of pink, polka-dotted bruises. 

Once the connection between mind and body was restored, a flood of neural complaints overwhelmed my conscience. I was unable to do anything more than lie down on the temple floor. 

Head beating. Bruises beating in sync. It seemed as though someone had implanted my mind and soul into a clock. Each breath came in dry and unfilling; each beat brought me one inch farther from my adrenaline-induced anesthesia. My eye-

Something hard connected with the back of my head.

“Ow! I got it! I-I’m getting up now,” I managed to utter as Daring’s hoof hooked itself around one of my outstretched forelegs. With unnatural strength, she pulled me up in one swift motion onto my own hooves. She stared at me with an expression that just screamed how excited she was to see me napping around in a dangerous death trap. 

Preceding the apology with a subtle gulp, I began, “Sorry about that-”

“Forgiven.” And just like that, Daring had pardoned me of my weakness… Or was she pardoning me for nearl getting us killed back there? Oh. Best not to bring that up then.

“Wait? You’re not angry at all?” She rolled her eyes at that question. It was as if she had seen this scenario already and knew all the motions.

“Angry? You think I’m angry that you nearly got us killed back there, because you couldn’t follow simple orders?” I only became aware of my shell-shocked facial expression when Daring’s ego personified itself in a smirk. I was a fool for thinking such an event could slip her mind; now, she was going to have fun with me.

“You can relax, Intimus. I’m not going to pin you down and humiliate you twice. For somepony of my caliber of awesome, a hallway of death is a walk in the park.” The adventurer stretched a leg and feinted with her good wing to resemble an effortless wipe of her brow. On the other hand, I did my best to resist staring in awe at her lazy brush with death. 

        Daring eventually dropped the “Cause I’m awesome” facade and fixed me with a neutrally bored expression. I must be getting good at this hide-your-feelings thing! Hopefully, these ponies will stop staring right through me with enough practice.

        She cleared her throat and got to the exposition: “Alright, so only part of what you saw back there was thanks to my skills. Fact is, you can’t expect to meet a titular character who isn’t aware of what goes on in her own story. I know every surprise this temple throws before it activates - right down to the timing and the area of effect.

        “The one - well two - things I didn’t count on though were you and Milky Way here.” The pegasus mentioned was barely standing on his four legs, huffing off the adrenaline drain.

        I had completely forgotten about him the moment my own injuries registered. To be honest, that was a bit jerkish of me. Even if prone to blatantly lying, Milky Way still made for good company and an optimist of all things. Now, he was struggling for breath due to an incident that would not have occurred if it were not for me.

        “Don’t fret… I’ve taken harder hits before… anyways, it was a mare-.” That was about as far as he got before a pair of purely virulent magenta eyes deviated his train of thought. “I’ll recover. No harm done, Intimus.” 

        It took me only a moment to figure out how he had read my thoughts. My face had fallen at my slight change of feelings! I would have never noticed if Milky Way had not shot me one of his warm knowing looks. So much for having a firm control over the exposure of my thoughts.

        “Well, seeing as you two are now fit to get a move on, we should get a move on. The sapphire stone’s a hoofball throw from here. All we need to do is transverse the treasure room.” On cue, her hoof pointed past us to a larger area just a few steps from the doorway. Demonic (why do ancient civilizations adore that kind of stuff) totem poles acted as support pillars on the shadowed sides of the room. A checkered floor, covered in simple drawings of various animals, took over as floorwork.

But the ceiling light set its beam on the real eyecatcher of the whole room - the sapphire stone atop its pedestal. The azure radiance it emitted was blinding in the semi-dark setting we occupied. It was just a moment’s trot away at this point!

“Rule two of archaeology,” Daring halted me with her sharp tone. “If it involves tiles, then you’re looking for patterns.” Guidemaster Daring Do took over from here, setting herself at the front of our ragtag group. She approached the checkered floor on the tips of her hooves. Her pith hat bobbed left and right as she studied the pictures. What she was looking for was beyond me.

Suddenly, her hoof shot out and smacked a nearby pebble onto the tiles. It landed with a polite clack and promptly brought that part of the floor down. All three of us stepped back at the sound of an activated deathtrap.

Arrow fanatics be appeased! The curtain of projectiles from some hidden compartment on the left wall went beyond overkill with its payload. We stared collectively at three dozen or so arrows stuck in a precise bunch on the right wall. Daring just rubbed her chin with a practiced hoof.

“Now, what is the pattern here? All symbolic and idolized animals…” she whispered to herself. The transition from Daring Do into an actual archaeologist left me transfixed. What I was watching felt like a presentation of an event in another plane of existence. Fancy wording aside, I guess this is how a spectator, like a reader, would feel like. Daring was in her natural element; Milk Way and I were just… there to observe. 

I hardly noticed a pair of legs wrap around my mid-body and lift me into the air.

        It was like falling again - only up this time! Once I was off the ground, my legs flailed wildly at whatever was holding me. I felt my hooves connect several times with a warm, furry surface that retracted with each blow. I realized soon enough who I was hitting.

        “Please refrain from thrashing the pilot with your legs sir,” Milky Way answered with a hint of exertion. My efforts to break free were only exacerbating his efforts. After reining in my appendages, I swallowed down the disorienting sensation. There was nothing more jarring than having the ground taken from under me, but I was reassured somewhat by the pair of legs around my chest.

        His wings were so close I could hear the individual feathers rustle with every flap. Milky Way grunted a couple times, yet he gained altitude and began sailing over Daring Do and the checkered deathtrap. 

        “But there’s got to be an odd one out-” she cut herself off to watch us I suppose. Although my position prevented me from looking backwards, my ears picked up her mumbling: “Wouldn’t be any darn good without those wings of yours.” She added on a louder note, “Or you could you that! Don’t do anything once you’ve reached the pedestal. I’ll be there in a second.”

        Milky Way and I continued hovering towards the artifact’s island, rendering the whole trap useless. As soon as we came upon the sandstone steps, he relinquished his hold on me. Luckily, the drop was a short one; however, a second of imbalance brought me within a breath of falling on the checkered floor. The only thing that managed to keep me from tumbling backwards was my own heart slamming against my rib cage in the opposite direction.

        I guess it was my body’s way of scolding me for nearly suffering severe injury… again. No guarantee on whether avoiding that will be possible.

        Milky Way landed with a little more grace. Promptly after landing, he contorted his body in an attempt to stretch out the strains from carrying me. “Sorry about the rough dropoff, Intimus. I’m a bit out of shape! Do you think you could will your weight to be lighter next time?” It was a question asked out of good intention, so I shoved the offensive implications out of my mind.

        Wait, could I actually do that? Could I lighten myself just by thinking it? It only took a replay in my mind of the tempest brewed up by my abuse of that power to cast the question aside. 

        I turned to Milky Way as a central character came to the front of my mind. “I know you’re tired, but is it possible for you to ferry Daring across too?” A raised eyebrow in response made me wince under his stare. I had already neglected his physical condition just minutes ago, yet I was still asking more of him. Any moment now, Milky Way would chew me out for it.

        He chose not to call me out on it; instead, he pointed a leg behind me and replied without a hint of contempt, “Doesn’t look like she needs one.” His eyes had been looking past me. One half turn later, I saw what he meant. 

With unnatural precision, Daring Do leapt from tile to tile - somehow without activating the arrow hailstorm. Each square offered about the same surface area as a piece of paper, and still she managed to plant all four of her hooves inside the boundaries upon landing! The lack of hesitation between each jump only made the feat more impressive.

The titular explorer’s face wore a stoic mask void of fear or doubt. If I had not known better, I would have suspected that she was simply concealing it. But after watching her approach every other dangerous trial with the same expression, I knew now that she had just seen all of this too many times to be intimidated. True to her legendary boasts, she was a fully embodied adventurer.

Within seconds, Daring made the last jump and landed right next to me on the island. I was too busy wrapping my mind around the act to give any applause for her, but she barely appeared hurt. Instead, catching my face from the corner of her eye, Daring shot me a half-smirk: surprisingly more genuine than amused.

All three of us were rested enough to face the next danger - seizing the idol. The sapphire stone atop the pedestal had been blindingly brilliant from across the room; now that I was right in front of it, I could see the masterful craftsmanship that went into its creation.

The idol resembled a two headed jackal with attentive eyes scanning both to the left and to the right. It was guarding an unblemished and perfectly trimmed gem close to itself with two criss-crossing arms. The sharp edges created intentional shades of the aqua blue that permeated through the gem, embellishing the stone with a naturally induced color scheme. Whoever designed this thing must have spent an eternity creating a crystal structure that could refract light into a visual enhancement.

Sporting not a single blemish from age, the sapphire stone sparkled in its sun-powered spotlight. This idol was probably the epitome of an entire civilization’s artistic genius - now just a memento in the husk of its time. In a way, by taking the sapphire stone and reintroducing it into the world, we would also be immortalizing the brilliant civilization that crafted it! At least then, others would remember those ancient architects for something more than their obsession with deadly traps.

I guess from that point of view, stealing is pretty justifiable. But then again, we probably need to steal the idol to progress the story. Milky Way seemed to have reach that conclusion quicker than me - he was already sizing up the treasure with eager hooves.

Frolicking from one angle to another, Milky Way examined the stone with the expression of a child staring into the window of a candy store. He inquired with a hushed voice, “So how do we go about grabbing this find? Replace it with something of equal weight?” 

He slinked close to the pedestal with eyes scanning the sides of the room. I did not think it was even possible, but Milky Way has managed to get into the story more than the main character herself. “Or do we gun it once we snatch the stone?” Both of us looked to Daring for advice on the next course of action.

The adventurer in question had her focus captured by the hole in the ceiling. A couple clouds hovered lazily in the opening, surrounded by a murky yellow and green sky. After the initial irritation from the glare, I knew what I was looking at - our way out of this airtight death trap roulette. Things must be looking up for me, because Daring was already planning our exit strategy!

She confirmed my hopes when she asked, “Can you carry us up to that hole, Milky Way?” The question still carried her self-bestowed authority, but it came out lighter in tone than previous orders. It seems that she is finally seeing Milky Way, with his ability of flight, as something more than chauvinistic luggage. 

Part of me hoped she was reevaluating me as well - my performance the past couple of incidents has not painted me in a good light.

Milky Way gave his wings a few flaps. There was strain in his movements, but he answered anyways, “Sure can do, so long as it’s one passenger at a time though.” Daring nodded without a word, briefly inspecting Milky Way’s flying capability.

“That’ll do. Just get us up that opening into fresh air and grab the stone so-” Daring had to pause to catch a distinct click that hardly registered to my own ears. The air was filled with an escalating hiss of burning rope before a loud clap erupted among the three of us.

The disturbance came from the idol. I caught glimpse of a skeletal claw, which was attached to a taut rope, gripping the sapphire stone by its jackal body before it disappeared in a blur. The hissing sound returned, reversing into a decrescendo as it ascended towards the hole in the ceiling… 

“What the Goddess?” Daring yelped as the gleaming statue flashed into the… hand… of a blue-coated dog-ape hybrid - the hand attached to his monkey tail. With a majority of his body hidden by the shadow of the outside sun, the only part that was clearly shown was his canine snout and his elated grin. 

“Au revoir, Daring Do and companions! I’ll be taking this, if you don’t mind,” Ahuizotl eloquently spoke with a deep, foreign accent. And despite using a tone that was clearly meant for one-on-one conversation, his voice reverberated through the chamber with the echo of a grand speech. I did not care whether this was show or not, it struck me with the intended effect.

To say Daring Do was flabbergasted would be a severe understatement: “A-a grappling hook? What happened to no cheating the story, Ahuizotl!?” As if to mock her, Ahuizotl waved mentioned grappling hook out of the shadows. Fit exactly to his multi-limbed leg, the three prong claw completed his arch-villain complex.

To be honest, I had expected Ahuizotl to be something like an evil without shape or comprehensible form. Yet seeing the antagonist for the first time, my imagination paled in comparison. His appearance looked as though it had come out of the dark recesses of a surgeon-biologist’s nightmare. The unnaturally green-tinted irises did nothing to ease my conscience; it was like he was dragging me to him with just his eyes! 

Thankfully, Ahuizotl paid no heed to me; his crazed gaze was directed solely at the adventurer. “You’re allowed to have your dreamer friend. I only leveled the odds so we’re both on par,” he emphasized the last word. Behind us, stone clacked against stone as ancient machinery once more roared to life. 

It turned out to be his signal to leave. As Ahuizotl reached over to something next to him, he mockingly uttered, “And now I bid you adieu, Daring Do.” With that last bit of cryptic fancy, he left our vision and replaced the hole with a boulder. We were sealed in the temple.

That was the moment when the floor cracked into pieces. “You dastardly, son of a hydra hypocrite!” Daring futilely shouted after the demigod. She narrowed her eyes and gritted her pearl teeth at the destruction around us. “On your hooves, this place is coming down!” 

Milky Way and I did not need further encouragement to snap out of our trances.

Milky Way took to the air for the sealed exit but ended up dodging pieces of the ceiling instead. Daring eyed the nonexistent floor - replaced by a pit of bubbly lava. I pranced in place, dancing on my hooves in the maelstrom of falling debris.

And just to spite us, the lava was slowly ascending to our pedestal high ground. Crabapples. I could feel the hair of my coat singeing at the tips! Our escape route was cut off. Our pegasus companion was flying for his life. Our time was running out. Now, it was only a matter of which way I wanted to die: crushed in a messy manner or melted in an excruciating manner.

A sudden acceleration in the ceiling’s crumbling sealed my choice. Screeching from both ends of the room, the support poles on the sides of the chamber tumbled out of their fixed positions, falling inwards to the center of the room.

Scorching liquid was splashed within centimeters of where Daring and I were standing. I looked to Daring in anticipation of a miracle escape strategy. The sight of her faltering facade upon meeting my stare dashed that hope. From the way she bit her lip, I could read the grim implication.

Daring did have a plan - one SHE could execute without difficulty. It just did not account for me.

Wordlessly, she pointed to the totem pole least submerged, sticking out directly underneath the blocked hole. There were support beams scattered in the lava at all sorts of angles - no guarantee of firm footing - leading to the topmost pole. However, the only alternative, as Milky Way was struggling to hold his own, was letting myself burn on this island.

Daring always had a solution; whatever she had planned on the highest pillar was our best bet for survival. There have been enough close calls in this dream that have shown her ability to cheat death. It was evidence enough to trust her, so why was I not jumping?!

At the moment, this was the only chance I had. Drown and burn in molten rock or make a dash to escape at the risk of drowning and burning in molten rock - survival or not survival, Intimus. No other option. Hushing my protesting heart and rebellious mind, I jumped for the nearest pole.

My hooves never even registered with the beam. I was hopping off of its surface before the thought formed in my mind! In fact, I was practically gliding across lava with these quick reflexes! Even the haphazard slopes were proving beneficial for larger distance leaps, and I was never on a single pole long enough to lose my footing.

What was my body doing? 

Are legs even supposed to move and exert themselves this fast? 

What was Daring looking at? 

Maybe if I kept my mind occupied and let the process keep me alive - oh no. Recover. Slipping. Contact. Contact!

The texture of the ceremonial pole’s engravings bumped against my hooves for only a second before they were impressed into my skin. I felt muscles contract and store a buck’s worth of energy into my hindlegs. The spring was coiled, and the angle was set. With a light kick, I soared through the air!

My vision tunneled onto a single pictogram of a rat on the target beam as it rushed to meet me within a heartbeat. I hit the pillar with two unsynced thuds and promptly swayed on a tightrope made of stone. I swung my body back and forth to fight gravity as it attempted to drag me into the lava.

After a slight struggle on my hooves, I had stable footing! My mind was disoriented, pounding with what must have been a clocktower condensed into the size of my skull. Any attempt I made at formulating my thoughts was interrupted by its punctuated ticking. Thankfully, Daring’s own hoofsteps on the pole shattered the beat and helped my mind return to normal thinking. 

She stopped on the topmost section of the beam and gazed straight up. By instinct, I followed her eyes and found the blocked off exit… Wait, we were under the exit? How did that happen? Turning around, I spotted the platform and pedestal where I was previously accessing whether to let myself die or die attempting one of Daring’s crazy aerobics.

Miraculously and fortunately, I somehow crossed an entire room of boiling magma! And best yet, I felt like doing it again! Crabapples. That statement sounded like my first step into insanity. Honestly, I cannot not help it! There was this kindling vibration running through my legs and chest; it was almost as if the lava’s blazing warmth was running through my veins!

This must be… adrenaline. I had never noticed it until now, but wow, this stuff did wonders like an instant rechar-

“INTIMUS. FOCUS. DYNAMITE ON THIS SPEAR NOW!” Then, there was dynamite on the spear! Explosive sticks bundled together by rope on the broom handle. Wires attached to the ends of the dynamite coiled together into one neat fuse. Colored bright red for visual danger.

When I faced the adventurer again, I was sporting a rigid expression stuck mid-gape, not too different from Daring’s. In her left hoof, she was holding an ancient civilization’s equivalent of firecrackers - even appropriately colored. Even with the whole chamber collapsing and the lava rising to engulf our beam, we shared a moment of quietude.

She was the first to break the silence by adding, “Turns out you respond better when you’re stuck in a trance.” Wasting no time, Daring lowered the dynamite-strapped spear near the lava’s surface and plucked it back up with a spitting spark attached to the fuse.

Wait, I willed that dynamite into existence! Balance. Oh no, we gave ourselves an advantage! 

I retreated from the ascending fire and shouted, “Daring! The balance! Ahuizotl’s going to will something else into existence because of the dynamite!” The last sentence came out with barely enough volume to count as a shout. A streamline of smoke was clogging my lungs.

Standing with an almost graceful stance, Daring replied in a leveled tone, “Ahuizotl gave himself a grappling gun. A grappling gun of all things! Well, if he can have his gun, then we can have our dynamite.” She tossed her head towards the ceiling and exclaimed, “Stand clear, Milky Way!”

Our flying acquaintance paused for a moment before continuing his mid-air struggle far from the ceiling exit. It was a clear shot, just some dozen meters above our heads.

The spark was now two-thirds of the way through the fuse, sizzling with a whiney static that may as well have been raucous roar of an incoming fireball. Daring was just looking my way with one eyebrow raised.

“Daring,” I spoke without taking my gaze off of the hungry spark. It was nearly through the coil.

“Yeah?”

“You are going to blow up the boulder up there with the dynamite right?”

“Duh. What do you think I was going to do? Read a book to it?” It was like a ticking bomb in her hoof was the most natural possession she could have! 

“Then throw it!” The coil was eaten up now, and the spark had split into several sparks to continue its journey into the explosive sticks.

Daring turned her stare to the ceiling and waited. I was ready to dive into the lava when she finally upchucked the spear in one swift motion. I wrapped my legs around the pole and closed my eyes; this was going to be-

        AAAAGGGHHHH!!! BROKEN EARDRUMS. MY BRAIN. POPPING. MY EARS. POUNDING. NEEDLEss to say, the explosion shook the entire room! What must have been the shockwave flattened me against the pictograms and slashed my back coat with a saber made out of pure condensed air - practically tossing an open cauldron at my back.

        Squinting one eye open, I was instantly blinded by the addition of an overhead light. 

Wait. Overhead light from outside!

Despite taking an arguably unhealthy dose of explosion like me, Daring was able to stand on her trembling legs. Her form was covered in grey filth, camouflaging perfectly with her monochrome mane. She spotted me with her bewildered, and now highly conspicuous, magenta eyes. Fortunately, some part of me managed to command my abused body to stand up.

“Wow! What an explosion!” Milky Way jubilantly yelped as he flew over to us. Without even needing the question, he squeezed us together between his forelegs against his chest (somepony squeaked in the process. I am sure it was not me.) and began pumping his wings. “I would… love to say something… cool… but we have an escape… to complete!” 

It was either just the sheer effect of the explosion or the fact that I could feel Milky Way’s chest heaving against me, but I went limp in his forelegs. As the outside world came closer and engulfed my vision with magnificent light (oh I missed you sunlight), the strain in Milky Way’s efforts became more audible. 

What started as intermittent grunts evolved into perpetual panting. But inch by inch, we were raised off of the totem pole just as the lava swallowed its peak. Just a couple meters from the ceiling, the prestissimo power in his wings began to diminish and slow.

His chest, on the other hand, continued its frenzied beating, unwilling to stop despite the glaringly obvious strain it was going through. Milky Way let out a piercing yell that crescendoed with piercing stimulation and de-crescendoed with the cringe-inducing echo of an extinguished flame. It brought us a few more precious centimeters closer to the way out. Just a little more, Milky Way. Please, just a little more.

He complied. We finally flew level with the hole in the ceiling.

Instantly, Daring and I gripped the rims of the cleared exit and supported a limp pegasus between us. As soon as we left his embrace, Milky Way simply stopped moving. My forelegs were screaming from the weight, but I was willing to disobey their orders for reprievement. 

Daring and I pulled the knocked out pegasus onto the roof. He was left splayed out on the temple’s stone like a disregarded bean bag. With relatively little strain, I joined him with my back against the stone. 

Wisps of cloud drifted by themselves against a lime-green and teal sky. A wider world where the only things I had to worry about were a demigod and his obedient predators. A sight without ceilings or walls. I was safe out here - a statement I never thought I would say again in my amnesiac life.

To say breathing in jungle air, instead of the vile gases inside that treasure room, was a joy would be the grandest of understatements. I could just lie here and allow my future self to deal with the damages. A nap was in due order. Was it possible to dream within a dream? I guess I was going to find out.

“No, wait, I know this part…” Daring muttered with a hoarse breath obviously lacking sufficient oxygen. The gasp came just a moment later. “Oh for feather’s sake! Off the-”

The tunneling steam from the temple never registered over our fatigue. When the roof began to rumble, I had enough time to raise my head before the stone disappeared from underneath me. My scream became the one thing from that moment on that I was able to keep track of.

Jungle. Sky. Earth. The dominating blur in my vision kept switching among the three - while rotating. Unable to even process what I was seeing, my eyes closed shut. With both hearing and sight overburdened and unreliable, my instinct became the only sense still functioning enough to give me a sense of where I was.

From the way my body was slicing through the air like it was a cookie cutter to batter, I had to be midair. And considering how it has been pushing from one direction for the past couple of seconds, I must be on my way down.

…Not again. Please.

Alas, my eyes opened at the last moment and now ground utterly dominated my vision. One second later, my left side crumpled against my spine. Vitals and bones shifted way too far to the right, practically rendering one half of my body into a deflated pancake. Unfortunately for me, the impact was not as bad as the ensuing struggle to breathe with half my lung capacity disabled.

        In comparison to the lower body, my head only received the equivalent of a brick to the skull. The numbing distraction only persisted for a minute before my nerves remembered the carnage that occurred in my torso. I must have hit terminal velocity at some point in the trip down to Earth!

        My head swerved around in search of another distraction. As far as I could tell, Milky Way and Daring had not taken any lighter injuries; they were cracking bones back in place in their attempts to stand up. Well, at least Milky Way was conscious again.

        Daring, as expected, was the first to recover from the fall. The sand we kicked up on impact clung to her dusty coat, restoring some patches to their mustard purity. Other than that, not a single bruise or cut or deformity was to be seen! If it was not for the cringing scowl on her face, I would have thought she escaped the punishment I received.

        Milky Way, on the other hand, preferred the comfort of the ground. But in his defense, embracing the ground was a more appealing idea than trying to stand against whatever injuries we sustained. Add his recent efforts to get us out of that treasure chamber, and the result is a thoroughly worn out pegasus.

        Daring mumbled incoherently before addressing us with gritted teeth. “Err… I never get used to that. You okay, probie?”

        No. Not at all. “I-I think I broke something… through my whole right side,” I answered in between the stabs in my innards. Daring looked at me quizzically, as if trying to figure out if I was being authentic about my glaringly obvious suffering.

        “Intimus,” a deliberate and accented voice spoke.

        “Okay. Okay. Intimus, alright?” Daring turned to face Milky Way. “How many times are you going to remind-?” She halted mid sentence when she remembered that Milky Way was too incapacitated to speak that clearly.

        Daring and I knew exactly who was not incapacitated. We turned around and came face to face with the villain himself.

        Ahuizotl sported a giddy smirk - the crocodile smile of a winner. He continued his dialogue, “As expected Daring Do. You prove once again the law of adventure literature: the heroine must escape certain death no matter what.”

        “You know that neither of us can change the narrative, Ahuizotl.”

        “True” the demigod admitted. Oh no, he was looking at me. Those eyes only seemed to brighten once they had me in their spell. “But he can, as well as the Patriot.” He emphasized the last words with clicks of his accented tongue.

        The Patriot?

        Daring voiced the question out loud. Ahuizotl only grinned further with his draconian teeth, obviously taking glee in our confusion. Luckily, he was willing to fill us in on what we did not know.

        “Of course! He’s the one who gave me the powers of a god! This pony’s dream is a sandbox that readily bends to my will!” He stood on his hindlegs and threw his arms into the air. Above us hovered a sizeable storm cloud. Given its cue, the mass shot two streaks of lightning behind Ahuizotl and bellowed an ear-splitting roar that strangely suited the villain’s maniacal laughter.
        
        It was overly dramatic, but it was effective. Just the display of his “god” powers startled me onto my back, in spite of my ravaged body! I laid stunned, deciding whether to ignore the injuries and run or will myself into non-existence. However, once he got into that laughter, amplified by the storm cloud effects, both choices were thrown away in favor of watching without the power to do anything else.


~~~




        Wait, what just happened?

        One moment I was out in a clearing, observing the insanity of a demigod. Now, I was staring at an all-too-familiar ceiling. I was inside again! Where were Daring and Milky Way? Why can I not move my forelegs?
        
        My struggles to move were obstructed by a tightly bound and pricked band. I recognized the chains of rope even before I lowered my muzzle to see the restraints. Without even realizing it, I had been tied up and thrown on a stone platform in another one of these temples.

The room I was held prisoner in was a compact version of the death trap hallway. The walls were faded variants of swamp green and brown, decorated with more cracks than any stable structure should have. The only dignified ornament in the chamber was an amulet of something resembling a grumpy octopus with a stache - hung high on one of the walls.

Hopefully, in the time I was out, Daring and Milky Way were able to escape Ahuizotl. They would come and get me out of here! That outcome was ruled out as soon as I turned my head to the left. It turned out I was tied up at the edge of the platform, for two more bound ponies laid struggling against their bonds next to me.

Milky Way brought his head up from chewing at the ropes around him to stare across Daring, who was placed between us, and get my attention. “Intimus! You’re up! I know this sounds abrupt and strange, but we got captured and placed into this convenient edifice that also serves as an execution chamber.”

What?! When did anything like that happen?

“We just experienced a jump cut, which is why you cannot remember how we got here,” Milky Way clarified the jarring change in our situation while fighting to open his wings. The rope refused to give, holding them right against his sides. “The way Daring explained it was that the author of this story was lazy and decided to cut out the part that readers would not want to know - like how we got tied up and how Ahuizotl transported us here.”

And speaking of the villain, the deliberate voice of Ahuizotl suddenly made itself apparent to my right. “Precisely right. According to the narrative, we are now at the part where I must make you three countdown to your demise!” 

Do not turn to your right, Intimus. Not this close. I would not be able to stand another staring contest with him! And besides, I needed to keep my wits in case Daring came up with another plan. I could will in the right tool to get us out of here!

I looked to Daring, strangely lacking her pith hat, but she was too occupied with glaring at Ahuizotl to notice. Suddenly, my view was obscured by a falling curtain that strapped itself against my face. Everything was painted black; I was effectively blind!

“Don’t think I forgot about you, dreamer.” Oh please, someone wake me up. He was whispering right into my ear! My efforts to break free were stifled; the only ponies who could get me out were lined up next to me; there was nothing I could do but lie helpless at the mercy of a ruthless antagonist - stripped of my ability to see too.

I have to wake up! Come on, this is MY dream! Wake up! Please, wake up!!!