> What's Under the Ground...
>  by Sorren
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The entrance to the temple gaped like an open maw, glaring like a hungry animal just waiting, hoping for another victim to swallow in its depths. Many ponies had entered the temple, none of which had ever left. Local word was that it was cursed. This temple was different from the others. For starters, almost all of it was underground. Nopony knew where it went, or how far it went down—it was too good to be true. It was dangerous; there was no doubt about it. 

Many said that in the temple’s depths lay certain death—they could be right. Others said the temple would drive one mad—maybe.  

        Daring Do took a determined step forward. An unexplored temple—the thrill of her life. She plodded slowly towards the unsealed entrance, flanked on either side by weathered stone blocks. The birds seemed to stop chirping as she neared, and the flies fell back, following her no further. The jungle above became lost to the eye as she descended the narrow ramp towards the intimidating entrance.

        Before she entered, the pegasus checked her supplies. She normally didn’t wear saddlebags, but this situation was different. She didn’t know where she was going, or how long she would be gone for. Daring had packed herself a lantern, some food and water, and medical supplies; nothing much. She was Daring Do after all. The supplies were more of a backup plan, in case she actually managed to get herself into trouble. She highly doubted she would actually have to use them. If this temple was anything like the others she had been in, this was going to be a cakewalk. Sure some of the other places didn’t have quite the notorious background this one possessed, but that was all part of the adventure.

        She took a deep breath and entered, letting the semi-darkness of the underground passage swallow her whole. Daring took a deep breath, getting that familiar taste of musty air. It always felt like this when exploring a new place. That feeling of uneasiness and excitement mixed with that little rush of adrenaline upon entering the ruins, there was nothing better. This is why she did what she did. 

        Unlike the other temples, ruins, shrines, tombs, and everything in the middle she had explored, this one had no back-story. All of the other temples had names, history. Ponies knew who had been buried there or what lie within. But this temple, there was no name for it, no story, no understanding of why it was here. It was simply here, having never been explored, but attempted by many. The locals had come up with their own name for it, one that Daring scoffed at. They had called it, ‘the temple of death.’ Personally, she thought it lacked creativity. Nothing screamed cliche like ‘the temple of death.’ She imagined a ominous drumbeat in the background as she thought the name. 

        The luscious vegetation underhoof gave way to smoothed stone. Daring walked slowly down the passage, examining the path ahead for anything that could prove as a threat. The passage sloped downward at a slight angle. Slowly, she was swallowed deeper and deeper into the ground as she walked on. 

        Daring stopped, her hoof hovering over a discolored section of rock. This stone was lighter than the rest of the beige floor. It was more of a sandy beach color and separate from the floor itself. “Pressure pad,” Daring voiced aloud. She found this odd. Normally when ponies built these places they tried to hide the traps — this one could be seen clear as day. It was almost as if they wanted ponies to see it. 

Inscribed in the ancient writing on the stone was a single word. Daring read it aloud “Trap.” She chuckled to herself. The ponies who built this place must have had a sense of humor. 

        Carefully, she stepped around it, making a mental note not to trip it on the way back. There was a corner just ahead; it turned to the right at a ninety degree angle and continued on downwards. Daring rounded the corner to be greeted by a strange sight, light. There was light up ahead. The tunnel went down for another hundred yards maybe. And ahead, in the distance, was a light that could only be cast by flame, the gentle flickering and oscillations in the color cast down the tunnel from the depths beyond proved so. 

        If there was a fire, there had to be another pony down here. “Hello?” she called hesitantly, not keen to raise her voice in the small space. As she had predicted, there was no response. She was nearing the source now. The tunnel fanned out into a square chamber roughly twenty feet square. A stone pillar stood in every corner, and one in the center. A single torch hung from a scone on the middle pillar. From the looks of the torch, it hadn’t been lit long ago. Daring looked around cautiously. There had to be somepony else down here. Torches didn’t light themselves. She unfurled her wings, the feathers slightly ruffled. She smoothed them and folded her wings back to her sides, but immediately received the urge to flare them again. She was letting something as stupid as a lit torch creep her out. 

“Come on,” she taunted herself. “You’re Daring Do; you aren’t going to be scared of a torch are you?” She stared a moment longer at the dancing flame. 

        “No,” she replied to herself. “It’s just a torch. Why would I be scared?” Daring reached back and pulled a scroll from her saddlebag. She rolled it out on the ground and a stick of charcoal rolled away across the stone. She took it in her mouth and mapped the path of the tunnel she had just left, and the room she was in now. When she was done, a set of straight lines had been sketched in the corner of the large paper, and near the end of those lines was a bend, at the end of which she had sketched the room she was in now. Daring looked around at the room she was in. There were three passages leading off, one being the way she had come in. The larger of the remaining two led slightly down. The last one went up. She rolled the charcoal back up in the scroll and slid it back into her saddlebag. 

Trying to make a decision, she looked to one tunnel, then the other; they were both equally tempting. Choosing a tunnel required an expert’s methods and a keen eye. Daring raised a hoof and pointed at the first one. “Eeney meeny miney mo.” Her hoof came to rest pointing at the one that led down. With a shrug, she trotted lightly forward and examined the entrance. The lack of markings set her off, but she tried to ignore the strange churning in her gut.

        This tunnel was just the same as the other one. Daring’s mind wandered as she walked. She laughed quietly to herself at the trifles of her mind. If she was a pegasus, then why did she always spend so much time underground? The tunnel curved up ahead, this time to the left. She turned the corner and stopped just before the darkness ahead. The light from the torch was now almost out of range, and although she had excellent night vision, it wasn’t that good. 

        She pulled the lantern from her bag and lit with a striking stone, illuminating the dark passage with flickering firelight. Daring looked back the way she had come. The passage stretched away into darkness. She looked ahead again and immediately did a double take. Hadn’t she just rounded a corner? She balked, gazing back at the endless hall behind her. There was no corner, nothing at all. She was standing in a straight tunnel with beige-brown walls stretching away into darkness in either direction. 

        Daring sat down hard. She set the lantern down and felt along the walls. Her hooves slid against the gritty stone, but found no purchase. No cracks or edges where a stone could have possibly slid into place. She felt her breathing quicken. She had just turned a corner; she knew she had. The light from the previous passage couldn’t be seen anymore either. 

        “Hello?” she called meekly. Her voice traveled down the length of the tunnel and echoed back to her. “What are you doing?” she scolded herself quietly, not wanting to receive another echo. “Just go back the way you came, and re-map it.” 

        Daring shook her head, clearing it of any mind-hindering thoughts. “Right,” she breathed. “Go back the way you came, and re-map it. I probably just got turned around, that’s all.” She picked up the lantern and started back. 

        Ten minutes later, she was pretty sure she had not gone the right way. Nothing was adding up. She had only walked for a couple minutes down the tunnel. She had been walked up it--or so she believed--for ten. Doing the math, she concluded that the two did not add up. 

        Daring pulled out the scroll, intent to check it again. She rolled it out on the ground and her mind locked up all at once as her eyes skimmed the fresh parchment. There was no map drawn on the contents of the scroll. One big squiggly line weaved in and out, covering the entire page. A particularly happy looking smiley face beamed up at her from the parchment. In one corner was a stick figure doodle of a mummy pony chasing a bunch of earth ponies. Little cartoon-ish smiles were drawn on all the figures. One was missing a limb. Smudges of chalk smeared the page where the leg had been wiped away. Daring Do took a disbelieving step backwards. “No,” she whispered. 

        Still in shock, she rolled up the map and returned it to her bag. She stood staring at the pockmarked wall. This particular section faded to a darker beige than the rest, so that it almost looked brown. The stone block had suffered from age. Dust clung to it, conjured by many years of moisture, until a soft layer of crumbly rock resembling sandstone layered the normally smooth stone. It was as grit as sandpaper yet soft as wood. Daring remembered a random fact. This kind of conjuration of minerals used to drive archaeologists mad. It would cover up hairline seams or hide shallow glyphs. This was why secret passages stayed hidden. Because a thin layer of solidified dust would build up over the entrance, destroying any chances of knowing something was there.

        Her mind remained padlocked. A foal had somehow gotten a hold of her scroll and colored all over it. That was the only explanation. “Yeah.” She laughed meekly to herself. A foal snuck into her bag and colored on her scroll while she was walking down the tunnel. “At least they’re smiley faces,” she reassured herself with mock-happiness. 

        Daring realized she was standing in mid-darkness. She looked towards the source of her light. The lantern was about fifty feet down the passage. She just stared at it. She hadn’t moved more than a few feet; but her lantern was way over there. “Somepony is messing with me.” Daring looked around at the abandoned passage. The only thing here was dust. She trotted back to retrieve her lantern. Things were just plain weird. With a little shake of her head, she pushed up her hat and rubbed the sweat from her brow with a forehoof. She had been in creepy temples before, but this wasn’t right. Things were moving on their own. She no longer wished to explore the ruin. Now she wanted to do nothing more than get the hay out of here. The explorer in her mind wished to stay, but her instincts were screaming every warning in the book. 

        She looked around at her options. She could either go straight back the way she came, or down the tunnel to the left... The tunnel to the left? 

 A tunnel split off diagonally from the rest. Cobwebs lined the ceiling and dust clung like carpet to the stone floor. Now she knew for sure, that the tunnel had not been there a minute ago. Daring considered the possibility that she may be dreaming. None of this was really possible. 

        She grasped the lantern’s handle in her mouth and slowly approached the mouth of the new passage. She had no idea why, but every nerve in her body was screaming for her to go down it. She didn’t want to go down it, but at the same time she did. “Are you crazy?” she scolded herself. “A creepy tunnel just appears and all of a sudden you want to go prancing down it?” She nodded to herself. “I’m going to regret this.” She started down the tunnel, not wanting to, but feeling she had to. 

        Ten minutes of walking brought her to a small chamber. This room was also square. The ceiling was low and it resembled the previous one she had been in, but without the pillars. Never in her life had she come across such an eccentric maze of tunnels. This place seemed nothing but tunnels. 

        Daring set down the lantern and flopped down on her back. There was something wrong with this place. While she walked, she could imagine hearing grating stone, masked by the sound of her hoof falls. Letting her eyelids drift halfway shut, she yawned. Who knew that walking around in creepy underground tunnels could take it out of a pony. Letting the overwhelming wave of drowsiness overcome her, she closed her eyes. Something struck her and she gave a little groan. She cracked one eye open so she could see well enough to blow out the lantern. Once again, she let herself go lax, then opened her eyes a second time. Thinking twice, she wrapped her hoof through the handle and lay back. She didn’t want it walking off again. It was all she had for light. 

        Mildly, she wondered of sleeping here was the best idea. Now, without the lantern light, she couldn’t see her hoof in front of her own face. Say, she woke up in a panic; it could be an issue. 

        “Don’t worry,” she said aloud. “You’ll be fine.” She was used to speaking to herself. Any time she was exploring tombs or ruins, talking to herself helped her concentrate. “Maybe you’ll be able to make sense of things when you wake up. You might just be imagining all of this.” That seemed to set her mind at ease. She closed her eyes and rolled over on her belly, resting her head on a forehoof, the lantern cradled in the other. Something in her mind was telling her not to fall asleep, but right now, the ground was more comfortable than the softest cloud.

        Daring tensed. Her eyes shot open, looking around uselessly in the darkness. She had heard hoofsteps. She tried to remain as still as possible, breathing levelly, listening for the slightest noise. She could definitely hear hoofsteps, the quiet yet echoing clop of hooves on stone. There was a pony in here with her. She was certain of it. As slowly and quietly as she could, Daring pushed herself up to a sitting position and dug in her pocket for a match. There was the sparking stone, but matches were faster. She emerged from the small pocket, a match in her teeth, and pulled the lantern up next to her. 

        She waited, listening as the echoing hoofsteps drew closer. They were rugged and irregular. One second the sounds would be in close proximity of each other, then the next it would take almost a second until the next followed the previous. She didn’t want to light the lantern until she was sure the pony wouldn’t be able to get away without her getting a good look at it. The hoofsteps echoed louder. They no longer sounded muffled, a sign that the pony was now in the room. She struck the match on the ground and held it to the wick of the oil lantern. 

        The entire room was bathed with the yellow glow of the flame. A stunned looking earth pony mare stood blinking in the light. Her blue coat was dull and matted. Dust clung to every inch of her. Her darker blue mane was ratty and unkempt, soaked in places with what Daring could only guess was blood. The mare scrambled backwards away from the light. She collided with the wall and fell back on her rump. Her irises were as large as bits. This pony had been in the dark for a long time. 

        “What are you doing here?” she croaked. Her voice was dry and cracked, but still held the softness of a once gentle-toned mare. 

        Daring leveled her gaze with the tattered mare. “I could ask you the same thing.” 

        “You shouldn’t have come here,” she replied fearfully. Every rib showed beneath her ragged coat. Sores had formed around her mouth and nose. Even now, Daring could tell that her breathing was labored. She had seen this before, this pony was starving.

        “Why not?” Daring asked skeptically. She feared she already knew the answer.  

        “Because,” the blue mare whispered. “Once you come in, you can’t leave.”

        “That’s nonsense.” Daring Do dug through her saddlebags. She pulled out the scroll which she had used as a map, and set it on the ground. 

        “That’s what I said too,” she replied glumly. “Just some old ponytale to keep snoopy ponies out of the ruins, right? How wrong I was.” The mare froze, staring a blank patch of wall slightly to the left of Daring’s head. “What were you doing before I got here?” she asked urgently, never taking her eyes from the wall.

        “Trying to get some sleep,” Daring replied curiously.

        Pure terror reflected in the blue mare’s face. “What?” she gasped. “Are you insane?”

        Daring was finding this all very hard to believe. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told the mare, putting as much kindness in her voice as she could muster.

        “You don’t sleep here!” she reprimanded in a loud whisper. “That’s how they find you?”

        “They?” Daring asked skeptically. This mare was dehydrated and hungry — she was probably suffering from hallucinations. 

        “I don’t know who they are.” The blue mare scooted closer to Daring, dropping her voice to a barely audible whisper. “If you go to sleep here, you don’t wake up.” 

        “How do you know that?”

        “Because,” she answered even more quietly. “I fell asleep, and I woke up. I was never supposed to wake up.”

        Daring held up a hoof. “I shouldn’t believe a word you say. You don’t look too good.”

        The mare made an urgent shushing noise. “Keep your voice down.”

        “Okay,” Daring replied compliantly. The mare may have been hungry and part crazy, but there was a certain urgency in her voice that was striking the explorer with fear. “Are you hungry?” she asked the belly-shrunken mare. 

        Her dull eyes seemed to light up for a second. “You have food?” she asked hopefully.

        Daring nodded. “Here.” She dug in her bag and passed the hungry pony a paper wrapped celery and oats sandwich.

        In four seconds the mare had the paper off the sandwich and had gulped it down, practically in one bite. “How long have you been down here?” Daring awed. 

        The mare burped quietly and looked up at her. “I’m not sure. Maybe four days. There’s no way to tell time down here.

        “When’s the last time you slept?”

        The blue mare looked up at her. “At least three days.” 

        Daring held out a hoof. “I’m Daring Do.”

        “Rivers,” she replied, without taking the gesture. 

        Daring looked at the blue pony with a frown, then lowered her hoof. Rivers looked tired, really tired. “Do you think you’d be able to sleep if I stayed awake?” Daring asked thoughtfully. 

        Rivers looked at her. “That would work,” she said. The mare spoke as if she were reassuring herself. “But only if you sit right next to me. I want you to keep your hoof on me.”

        Daring cocked an eyebrow but nodded. “You also need to stay awake,” Rivers forcibly insisted. 

        “I can do that.” Daring wasn’t too keen about being around this mare. She seemed a little crazy. But it sounded like Rivers needed her help. 

        “No I’m serious,” she pressed. “Whatever you do, you need to stay awake.” She spoke every syllable clearly and slowly, forcing emphasis upon her words. 

        “I will,” Daring reassured. 

        Rivers sagged to her belly and let out a sigh of relief, and slowly, her eyes fluttered closed. Daring sat next to her and put a hoof against the mare’s flank, as she was told. She was unnerved at how cold Rivers was.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Rivers murmured. “They’ll find you.” The mare exhaled deeply and let out a soft groan.  In mere seconds, she was asleep.

        Daring turned down the lantern looked around the near-dark chamber. She was starting to believe that this was a little more than just a strange occurrence. Something here wasn’t right. And she was scared.

> Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rivers jerked awake in the darkness. “They’re here!” she screamed aloud in the dark room. “They found me!” 

        Daring Do braced a hoof against the blue mare. “No, no one’s here.” She reached out a hoof to find the lantern. Her hoof brushed the metal handle and she brought it over to her. Daring let go of the thrashing mare to light the wick. She was very glad she had decided against a firefly lamp. They worked well and didn’t need oil, but after a while the fireflies tended to die, and you couldn’t relight a firefly.  

        The lantern lit up, bringing both Daring and the panicking mare into contrast. Rivers gazed up at her. The blue mare’s irises were once again swollen to the size of bits and her face was contorted with fear. “I fell asleep,” she gasped. “I fell asleep. I’m dead aren’t I?”

        “No,” Daring reassured. “I watched over you, you’re okay.”

        Rivers looked around the lantern-lit chamber fearfully. “I’m okay?” She asked in fear and awe. The mare examined herself.

        “Yes.” Daring had almost no doubt about it now. This mare was crazy. She must have suffered something incredibly traumatic to be reduced to levels such as this. Rivers jumped at every sound, sometimes when there weren’t any sounds at all. She sat up and looked at Daring. “Are you okay?” she pressed. She layered the word ‘okay’ with unmasked suspicion. 

        “I’m pretty sure,” Daring replied with a scrunch of her brow, not sure how to react to the question. 

        “Let me check you,” Rivers insisted forcefully. She stood up and looked Daring right in the eye. Their noses were barely an inch apart.

        Daring tried not to shy away, fearful of setting the mare off. “What are you doing?” she asked nervously.    

        “Checking you,” she replied evenly. 

        Daring took a fretful step backwards but the mare maintained the uncomfortably close distance. “You’re really creeping me out.” Daring noticed for the first time that Rivers had both a green eye and a blue one. The blue eye had gone cloudy around the edges.

        Rivers never blinked. Daring thought the heterochromic mare was going to stare at her forever. Without warning, Rivers jerked forward with a strangled scream.

        Daring gasped and backpedaled fearfully. “What the hay was that!?” she asked, clutching her pounding heart.

        The blue mare nodded in approval. “I had to make sure.”

        “Make sure of what?” Daring gasped. Her heart was beating in her head. She had never been expecting Rivers to leer at her like that. “Celestia, it looked like you were going to try and bite my nose off.”

        Rivers spun in a slow circle, examining the beige chamber. “How long ago did you get here?” 

        “I’m guessing about eight or nine hours ago,” Daring replied. Rivers had slept for a while but Daring had held her word and stayed awake. This mare was off, but all her emotions were real. Whatever was happening—or whatever Rivers thought was happening—was no matter to be taken lightly. Daring didn’t know what to believe, but going along with it was the safe route to take. She was finding it hard to ignore anything the mare was saying. Rivers seemed so sure about what she spoke of. “How do we get out, Rivers?” she asked.

        The blue mare tensed. “I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

        Daring frowned. “Well by now you must have explored nearly all the tunnels, right?”

        Rivers shook her head fearfully. “I don’t know. The tunnels, they keep changing. Every day they’re different. I could feel my way around them in the dark. I measured paces. But every day they were different.” Daring found herself nodding in agreement. The way the corner she had rounded had disappeared, or how the diagonal tunnel had appeared out of nowhere, suddenly made a little more sense.

        Daring shook her head violently, banishing the thoughts. “Are you telling me this temple is haunted?” she asked in attempted disbelief.

        Rivers shook her head. “Not haunted. This place isn’t haunted... It’s something else.”

        “It doesn’t matter,” Daring replied dismissively, “I don’t believe in ghosts.”  

        Rivers shook her head again. “No, not ghosts. It’s something else. But it’s not ghosts.” She trailed off, looking at Daring’s disbelieving expression. “You believe me don’t you?” 

        Daring felt almost sickened by the way the mare spoke. She was acting like a foal scared of reprimand. “I don’t know what to believe,” she replied carefully. Setting the mare off right now wouldn’t help either of them. “This place messes with my head. I just want to get out of here.”

        “It messes with your head?” Rivers laughed. “You think it’s even come close to touching your head? Nope, not close at all. You want to see a brain touched pony. Look at me.” She smiled with mock cheeriness. Daring found the mare’s smile rather unnerving. Her gums were dried and bleeding. Her tongue resembled a dry dishtowel. Daring thought back to her supplies. She had packed two canteens of water.  She had given Rivers a sandwich, but no water. She reached back and pulled one of the two canteens from her bag. 

        Rivers’ eyes followed the metal container with pure bliss. “Is that for me?” she gasped. Daring nodded. The mare snatched the can from her and unscrewed the lid with her teeth. She was about to take a drink when she stopped herself. More slowly, she took a small sip of water. “Don’t want to slam it,” she voiced aloud. “After severe dehydration, rapid intake of liquids usually induces vomiting.”

        Daring nodded approvingly. “Nice to know you know your stuff.”

        She took another careful sip of water. “I didn’t survive this long off of luck.” Daring was glad the mare seemed to have more control of herself now. She was no longer spouting nonsense or far-fetched tales, which seemed to be a good sign. 

        Daring yawned. Her eyes sagged and she wanted to do nothing more than curl up and sleep. But after what Rivers had said about falling asleep, she was scared to do so herself. Daring reached over and tightened the clamp on the lantern wick, restricting the flow of oil. She had brought two extra pots, but saving what she could wouldn’t hurt.

Rivers looked on fearfully. “Please don’t turn out the light,” she pleaded. 

        “I’m not,” she reassured. “I’m just saving oil.”

        The mare shuddered. “I never want to be in the dark again.”

        Daring nodded in understanding. This mare had spent days alone in the dark. That would be a traumatizing experience for anypony.  She stood up, finding motivation to get moving. “Well, we’ve got to try and find a way out. There’s no way I’m just going to sit around and wait to die.” Daring was proud of how well she handled situations like this. Any other pony would freak out in this kind of a scenario, but not her. She was strong-minded and determined. Something like this wasn’t going to stop her. 

        “I’ve already tried,” Rivers insisted.

        “I know that, but I want to try.” Daring looked at the mare, who was gazing almost pleadingly at her. 

        “It’s not worth it.” Rivers looked away. “I don’t want to go out there anymore.”

        Daring had an idea, it was a little cruel, but it was necessary. “Well,” she said slowly. “I do have the lantern. And if I go without you then I’d be taking my lantern. Then you’d be left in the dark.”

        Pure terror flashed in Rivers’ eyes. “You wouldn’t,” she gasped. “You can’t.”

        “Look,” Daring bargained. “I’m going to try and find a way out whether you want me to or not. Now I would like you to come with me. But if you refuse to, I will go without you, and I will be taking my lantern.”

        Rivers looked around the dully lit chamber. The pain in her expression suggested she was fighting with herself. She looked pleadingly at Daring. “Please,” she whispered. Daring shook her head and Rivers choked back a sob. She lowered her head, defeat showing in every line of her face. “I’ll go with you,” she finally murmured. “Celestia I don’t want to go anywhere. They find you when you move around, either that or you find them. Celestia I don’t want to. But I will, because you need my help. You won’t make it without me.”

        Daring Do stood up. She then took lantern and fastened it to the saddlebags on her flank. Normally, when she was walking around alone, she would carry it in her mouth. She never needed to talk to ponies much, given the fact that she usually explored alone. But now that she was with another pony, it wouldn’t hurt to free up her mouth so she could speak freely. 

        She turned to Rivers. “Now you’ve been wandering around down here for days, what’s the best way to go?”

        Rivers lowered herself to the ground. “There is no best way,” she whispered. Daring gave her a annoyed look. “Okay fine.” She pointed a hoof at a section of wall. “That door.”

        Daring turned to look at the patch of wall. “What door…” she froze; there was a wooden door directly where the mare had been pointing. Daring found it out of place, considering temples like these normally didn’t have doors. “When did that door get there?” she asked.

        Rivers shrugged. “It got there when we thought that it was there.”

        Daring deadpanned. “This is really starting to annoy me. I don’t like any of this mysterious nonsense.” 

        “Me neither.”

        Daring groaned inwardly. “Okay, let’s go down the new scary tunnel.” She started off slowly and Rivers, only semi-willingly, followed. This tunnel very faintly resembled the rest. The only difference was that a few glyphs were carved into the beige walls here and there. Daring read a few as they passed. They didn’t mean anything. The markings were nothing more than randomly placed words. She looked back at Rivers, who was trembling.

        “Have you been down this tunnel before?” Daring asked. 

        “I don’t know,” Rivers replied. “You can’t tell in the dark.”

        Daring felt bad for the mare. She felt bad for forcing Rivers to come with her. It had been cruel, but necessary. “Come on.” She motioned for the mare to move closer. “Walk next to me. I hate to see you slinking around back there.” Rivers nodded and quickened her pace until she walked in stride with Daring Do. The only sound was that of their hoof-falls. 

        Daring went over the factors in her head. She had one remaining canteen of water. In her bag was another wrapped sandwich, and four apples. In her current state, the food would last her a good three or four days. With Rivers on the other hoof, she’d be lucky to make two.  

Daring wanted to scream. She couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “So how did you end up down here?” she asked Rivers.

        Rivers sighed. “Heard about some temple that nopony had ever explored. Somepony was bragging about it, and I happened to be nearby. So I think, too good to be true, right?” Daring nodded. She had thought the same exact thing when she had heard about this place. “So I came here to find it. I heard the rumors about evil spirits and all this other paranormal nonsense. Obviously, I disregarded it completely. The next day I went down into the tunnels.” She hesitated, staring ahead down the passage. “I don’t really know what happened from there. And here I am,” she finished anticlimactically. 

        “Sounds about right.” Daring checked the lantern. At least she had plenty of oil. “Did this place start screwing with you the second you came down here?”

        Rivers nodded. “Yep, at first I thought it was me. Then a wall ate part of my tail and I realized things were a little strange.”

        Daring squinted at Rivers. “The wall ate your tail?”

        “Yep,” she half-chuckled at the face Daring gave her. “Don’t ask how, but the wall took a bite of my tail.”

        Daring shook her head disbelievingly. “Apparently, now walls eat tails… Now I really want to get out of here.” She looked around, disliking the silence. Normally, when she was along, silence was normal. But when two ponies are together in silence, the awkward factor sets in. She started whistling quietly as they rounded a gentle bend in the passage.

        “Don’t do that,” Rivers commanded. Daring shot her an indignant look. “I’m listening for whatever there is to hear,” she finished quietly. 

        Daring Do returned her gaze to the tunnel ahead. “I’m bored.”

        It was Rivers’ turn to glare. “Sure, because being bored while trying not to go crazy is perfectly normal.” She shot a nervous look back at something Daring hadn’t seen or heard. She looked back as well, to see nothing. Rivers continued. “I told myself I wouldn’t come back out into the tunnels; I told myself.” Daring realized the blue mare was talking to herself. “They almost got me the last time. Why would I come back out here?” She fixed her gaze at the wall, and then to Daring Do. 

        Daring had to choke back a gasp. Rivers’ eyes were nothing but black orbs. Her face was twisted and contorted, looking as if it were blowing away like sand in the wind. A low hum filled the air and the blue sand pony version of Rivers opened her mouth nearly as wide as her own head, letting out a scream in a note too low for pony vocals. 

        “Do you hear something?” Rivers asked. 

Daring blinked. It was perfectly quiet. Rivers stood in front of her, head cocked and slightly worried. “N-n-no,” Daring managed to stammer. “Nothing.”
        “What was that?” Rivers looked around wildly, having apparently heard something.

        “What was what?”

        Rivers shushed her. “There was a thing.” The mare lowered herself low to the ground and looked up at the ceiling. 

        Cobwebs hung from the stone above; but Daring didn’t see, or hear, anything out of the ordinary. “Not following,” she told the mare. 

        Rivers shrank even lower to the ground. “Hide,” she whimpered. 

        Daring frowned. “What are you—” Her sentence was cut short by a mouthful of sand. In no less than a second, wind filled the small passage. Daring braced herself against the turbulent force. She spit out another mouthful of sand and took a forced step forward. Forward travel would be impossible at this rate. It was like standing in a wind tunnel.

        “Daring!” came the voice of Rivers over the whistling of wind. 

        She turned to look for the mare. Daring spotted her, huddled against a wall, face turned away from the sand blizzard. Daring closed her eyes against the wind. Sand filled her ears and nose caused her eyes to burn. “Rivers!” she shouted back. “What’s going on!?”

        “They found us!” she screamed, turning her head away from the wall. Her face was pale and contorted. “It’s your fault! You made them find me!”

        Daring took a step towards Rivers, who scooted away. “You’re dangerous!” she screamed. “You made them find me!”

        “What are you talking about!?” Daring took another step towards the mare. A gust of wind swirled around her flank and snuffed out the flame of her lantern. She was immediately cast into darkness. Rivers screamed from ahead. 

        “Turn it back on!” she shrieked. Her voice was shrill and panicked. “Turn it back on now!”

        Daring dug in her pocket for a match; but the hungry wind sucked it out of her mouth. Rivers’ frantic cry sounded again. The wind whipped away her voice, making it sound as if the mare were further down the tunnel. 

        “I’m trying!” Daring yelled. She fumbled for another match. Finally, she got good hold of it and lay down in the tunnel. She struck the match on the ground and sheltered the fragile flame in the crook of her body. She pulled open the door of the lantern and lit the wick. 

        “Rivers! We need to get out of here!” Daring stared, wide eyed, at where the mare had been. “Rivers?” Her stunned words were swept away by the noisy wind. “Rivers! Where are you?” She spun in a frantic circle, to no avail.

        There was no response. Daring pulled the lantern from her side and swung it around frantically. The wind took hold of the fragile flame and threatened to snuff it out again. She lowered the lantern back to the stone floor and sheltered it with her body. After a moment, the wind subsided to be replaced by stunned silence. A light ringing filled her ears. It was the ringing that could only be heard in a state of pure silence, where the feedback from the eardrum to the brain becomes noticeable.

        “Rivers?” Daring whispered, wincing as her voice echoed loudly around the room. She blinked. A room, she was in a room. She had just been in a hallway. Now she was in a large room. 

And it was magnificent. 

        The ceiling loomed a towering fifty feet above. Giant stone arches supported it. Wall sconces all around the large room lit up the walls. Four standing sconces were set perfectly in the floor so as there was scarcely a dark spot to be seen. But the best part was the treasure. Despite her terrifying experience, she cried out triumphantly. The walls were lined with heaps of treasure. Coins, goblets, swords, anything that could possibly be crafted from gold was here in this chamber. She trotted over to a heap of flashy treasure and examined a goblet. The base was encrusted with red rubies. 

        “Rubies,” she muttered. “It’s always rubies.” The whole worry of Rivers was pushed to the back of her mind with the new discovery. “This is amazing!” she exclaimed, digging through a pile of crafted coins. 

        A thought struck her. Usually, treasured items were kept in neat order, stacked on shelves or sorted into categories. Everything here had just been heaped into mismatched piles. She looked nervously around the room. Suddenly, this didn’t seem too great. With further inspection, she noticed the markings on the walls and the square outcrop of stone in the center of the room. The rusty remnants of what Daring could tell had been chains were bolted to the top of the stone. To be precise, shackles, the bracing still locked in the closed position. 

        She also noticed that this room lacked an exit, apart from a square hole in the ceiling above, directly in the center. 

        “Oh no,” she lowered herself to the ground. This was a ritual chamber, a chamber for the offerings of treasure. But judging from the remains of a pony shackled to the stone table, it wasn’t only for treasure.

> Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Daring finished her circle of the chamber for the seventh time. There had to be a secret door somewhere. There’s no way they lifted everypony in and out through the hole in the ceiling. She ran her hoof along the grit wall, nothing. She had gone all the way around a full seven times, and still nothing. She had even tried shifting the piles of treasure to look for a trap door, to no avail. 
        
        “There has got to be a way out of here,” she said determinedly. Somepony had to have been down here recently, which meant there had to be a way out. All of the torches were lit and fresh oil still filled the sconces. 

Daring was worried for Rivers. She had left the mare. She had left Rivers in the dark when the blue mare was so terrified of it.
        
        She irritably kicked a small pile of golden treasure and sent it asunder. A goblet spiraled away amidst the shower of tinkling coins as they reflected little shimmers of light at her in the sconce-light. One of the golden peaces bounced and fell into a roll. It circled around and rolled back to her, dragging a golden chain behind it, and bumped against her hoof. Curiously, she bent down and lifted it by the chain to dangle the piece in front of her face. It was a necklace, meant to be worn. The decorative piece appeared to be some sort of talisman, but the design had drawn her attention. It was a small, rounded piece of gold, a little larger than a bit. A figure was molded into the front. It stood out away from the metal, making it look three dimensional. It was a pegasus, who sported a hat and shirt similar to hers. One of its wings hung limply by its side and the pony was reared up in the air as if she were fighting off an attacker. The face was contorted with pain, anger, and fear.
        
        The talisman scared her. “That looks like me,” she awed to herself. She looked around the lit chamber nervously before tucking the golden piece into her front shirt pocket, next to the matches. It felt like an incredibly bad idea to keep it, but it felt even worse to leave it here. She had heard of magical powers embedded in objects before. If there was even the tiniest chance that it had something to do with her, she didn’t want anypony to be able to find it.  Buttoning the pocket, she tried to clear her mind. There had to be a way out.     

        Maybe she could try flying up again. There really wasn’t anything else she could do. Daring unfurled her wings and lifted up from the stone floor. She flew cautiously this time, having learned from the previous experience. Last time she had tried flying up, but was sent dashing back for the ground like a scared filly as the walls around her had begun to vibrate.

        Daring braced herself for the worst as she reached the spot where it had began last time, but passed clean through it without the tiniest bit of resistance. “What?” She stopped and hovered, unnerved at the lack of resistance. The ascending shaft ahead was too dark to see in. Daring lit the lantern strapped to her flank before continuing upward. 

        A rock whooshed by, missing her muzzle by mere inches. Daring flew backwards hurriedly and collided with the wall of the shaft. “Horseapples!” she swore. A heavy thud came from below, signifying the rock had landed. She looked up in time to see another, smaller stone barreling towards her. She dodged it easily. “Stop throwing things at me!” she yelled up the shaft. 

        Bad idea. Volleys of hoof-sized stones rained down on her like hail. She dodged as many as she could. Some still struck her back and wings. A heavy thud and flash of pain in her head told her that a stone had met her skull. The hat may have cushioned the impact slightly, but it was still enough to make her dizzy. 

        A rock struck her right wing in the middle of its upstroke. She cried out as pain seared through the appendage and up into her spine. Daring quickly hugged the wall as a rock nearly the size of her sailed by. It ricocheted off the narrow walls as it fell, taking whole sections of the upward passage with it. 

        Daring contemplated going back down when she was forced to dodge another pony sized projectile. “No,” she said. “You made it this far.” She took a deep breath, readying herself. She pushed away from the edge of the chute and beat her wings with as much strength as she could muster. She barreled upwards against the barrage of deadly rain, weaving left and right, several times nearly losing her head.

        She could see the top of the passage now, but it wouldn’t be there for long; It was crumbling. A whole section dropped loose and she was forced to hug the wall or be splattered. It brushed the brim of her hat as it passed. Her belly squirmed at the near-death experience. Quickly, she shot the rest of the way up the shaft and landed heavily at the lip near the top. 

        A passage stretched in either direction from here. She started down the one to the right, but a section of ceiling gave way and the entire route ahead collapsed in a wall of dust and rubble. Daring slid to a stop as the rest of the passage gave way too. The beige rock rained down as she hurriedly turned to run the other way. The wall to her left gave in, sending sections of the roof raining down on her head. A large block struck her side, stumbling her and causing her to roll over onto her back. 

        Her vision swirled when she bashed her head on the stone floor and it took a short moment for her senses to recover. Daring found herself on her back, staring up at the crumbling ceiling. This whole place was trying to kill her; it was all coming down on top of her. The segment of roof above her gave way and she rolled to the side as a heavy stone crashed to the floor.

        Feeling a small amount of triumph, Daring let her guard lower. That’s when part of the wall collapsed, showering her with crumbling stone. A block larger than the rest tipped towards her and she tried to roll away, but wasn’t fast enough. The heavy stone crashed to the ground and landed on her left wing. 

        Daring screamed as an excruciating wave of pain shot through her wing and up her spine. Worse still, the tunnel around her was still crumbling. Ignoring the pain, Daring stood, but had to crouch, for her wing stayed pinned under the heavy stone. There were only seconds before the entire passage gave way all together, and those seconds were ticking away. Daring knew what she had to do, but she didn’t like it one bit. She silently cursed herself, seeing no other option.

        She braced her hooves against the stone and pulled, letting out an anguished cry of pain as she strained against her pinned wing. After a moment she gave up, panting. “One more time,” she reassured herself. She tugged again, feeling the muscles stretch and the tendons creak. There was a deep pop and a crack and Daring came free of the stone’s grasp. She stumbled backwards and collided with the wall of the passage. 
        
        She couldn’t think of anything other than the pain. Her entire body was on fire. The pain spread to her spine and from there, to every other part of her body. Mind clouded in agony, she ran. The yellow light of her lantern only reached ten or so feet down the tunnel; everything else was complete black. She ran. Not knowing where, as long as she was away from the deadly shower of stones. And she ran some more even after the rockfall had stopped. 
        
        Eventually, she reached a small room. A single lit torch hung from the wall. This room was empty apart from a pile of insignificant stones in one corner. There were two more routes that could be taken from here. Daring turned out her lantern, now relying on the torch for light. 

        There was really nothing to think of but the pain. She didn’t feel she could even look at her wing. The way it hurt, something was very wrong. The sound it made when she pulled free reinforced that thought. But she still had to bandage it. She took a deep breath and looked back to her left. Her wing was what one could call, broken. It hung limply at her side, the broken bones just below the joint jabbing painfully at the skin, causing a sharp protrusion. Many of the feathers had been pulled free and a gash bled heavily. 

        “That isn’t good,” she said to herself. “You’ve really done it this time.” She reached back and pulled a rolled bandage from her saddlebags. She wrapped the wounded area, being careful not to put strain on the already stretched skin and muscles. Pulling out another bandage, she wrapped her injured wing tight to her flank. If it was left dangling at her side, she would most likely trip on it and hurt it more. 

It seemed to hurt even more now that it was bandaged, but Daring bit her tongue and tried to ignore it. 

        With the issue of her wing temporarily dealt with, there was a new matter to address. She had to decide what to do next. 

        “There goes any chances of me flying for the next few months,” she groaned. After a break like that, she’d be in a splint for months, a couple more just for rehabilitation. If she didn’t get it set soon, it could be a lot worse. Her head throbbed painfully, nerve endings shooting angry messages to her brain. If she could read them, she bet they would be saying, “Hey! Hey! This hurts! Fix your wing! It’s Broken!”

        “I know that,” she told her crying nerves. Daring checked the lantern on her side. Miraculously, it had not been damaged in the whole ordeal. She looked around her room with two exits. Two exits… hadn’t there been three? “Of course there were three,” she scolded herself. “It’s just this place messing with you again.” 

        She got up and trotted over to the spot on the wall where the third passage had been and rapped on the stone, the sound echoing around her little room. “Open up!” she demanded. “I know there’s a tunnel here! Now open it!” To her surprise, the wall in front seemed to disintegrate. The stone crumbled and fell away to nothing but dust. A dark passage leered ahead. “Um, thanks,” she said awkwardly.

        More tunnels, more passages. When would it ever end? She could only take so much of this. Pretty soon, she was either going to run out of food or oil... or sanity. And that would be the end. 

        The passage took a steep upward curve. Daring glanced hopefully ahead, quickly quelled any hopeful thoughts. This place seemed to feed off hope. The more you had the less your chances of escape seemed. But she couldn’t stop a fluttering in her stomach as the passage continued to ascend.

        Her wing was hurting her more than ever now. Any movement of her spine sent jolts of pain throughout her entire body. Why did her wings have to connect to the spine? It hurt so bad to break one. This wasn’t the first time she had experienced wing troubles, but last time it had only been a fracture. This time her wing was flat out broken. Too bad she hadn’t broken the nerves too. 

        Despite the constant upward travel, Daring found herself beginning to panic. Something wasn’t right. There was no way this place would just let her go. She was going to see a flash of light only to have it snuffed out--see a door, only to have it poof into the never-been. She couldn’t be this lucky. Rivers had been down here for almost a week. Daring had been here less than a day. 

        Daring froze. Rivers. Rivers was still in here. She had lost the mare back in some other tunnel. Rivers was still here. How had she forgotten about something that important?

“No,” Daring said flatly. “She isn’t real.” Rivers had been a conjuration of her imagination, something for her mind to work with while all alone. “Yeah,” she said reassuringly. “Rivers isn’t real. Stop being crazy.”

        Daring trekked on. Her hoofsteps echoed loudly around her. Several times she stopped, thinking that she had heard something. “It’s just in your head Daring,” she said insistently. Her own brain was annoying her. Hallucinations were not a good thing to be having right now.

A low moan echoed from the tunnel behind her. The ground shook as the sound slowly grew into a deafening howl. 

        With no means of defense, Daring ran. It was always running. A sound of what she could only assume was anger reverberated off the narrow walls. The entire tunnel shook, silt raining from the ceiling. A block rattled itself free of the wall and clattered to the ground.

        “Leave me alone!” she bellowed. Daring couldn’t even hear her own words over the sound. Daring could have portrayed it as pure evil. It was angry. But there was something else to it. Was it triumph?

        “Shut up!” she insisted. “What do you want!?” 

All at once, the noise stopped. “Thank you!” she bellowed down the tunnel. “Now I’m going to walk this way! And if you mess with me again I’m going to find a way out! And I’ll come back! And when I do I’ll bring enough explosives with me to blow this place to the moon!” She stood her ground, glaring down the dark tunnel. “Do you understand!?”

        The only reply was a wisp of hot air. She raised her nose and set off up the tunnel again, feeling rather proud of herself. 

        Her mind resumed its frantic ramblings. “You’ll never get out,” Daring heard her own mouth say. She froze.

        “What was that?” she asked herself. 

        Her mouth replied again. “I said you’ll never make it.”

        If she could have glared at herself, she would have. “I will make it. You just watch.”

        “You’re gonna’ be sorry,” Daring giggled. 

        “No,” she replied like a scolding mother. “I’m going to be sane. I won’t let this place get to me.”

        The other Daring scrunched her face. “You’re already talking to yourself. And you say you’re sane?”

        Daring tried to ignore herself. “Shut up, I’m trying to concentrate.”

        “Fine,” she replied. “But now you aren’t going to have anypony to talk to.”

        Daring continued on down the tunnel. She was no longer bothering herself; so she assumed she was okay. “Any minute now,” she murmured. “Any minute now I’m either going to see sunlight, or a giant boulder rolling towards me.” She chuckled. “I’m betting on the boulder.”

        She turned a corner in the passage and was immediately blinded by a flash of light. Instinctively, she reached back and turned off the lantern. “Sunlight,” she laughed happily. “Sunlight!” She broke into a gallop. “I made it! I made it!”

        Daring emerged into a bright room. In front of her was a large opening. Sunlight shone in  through a small doorway and green trees could be seen beyond. She started forward.

        “Wait,” she told herself. “Once you leave you can’t get back in.”

        Daring scoffed. “Why the hay would I want to get back in? I’m not crazy you know.” 

        A roll of parchment fell from her saddlebags and landed on the ground by her side. Daring stared at it for a moment. Then slowly, she bent down and picked it up. She unrolled it on the stone floor, aided in vision by the pure-white sunlight. 

        Scrawled across the whole page was a picture drawn with inexperienced hooves, possibly a foal. It was a picture of two mares. One was a yellow pegasus, the other a blue earth pony. The two mares were clasped in a hug, the blue one crying into the flank of the yellow. 

        Daring reached out a hoof and touched the drawing. “Rivers?” she murmured. Daring stumbled backwards. There before her eyes. The picture began to move. The yellow pegasus pulled out of the hug and turned her back on the blue mare. The earth pony wore a sad face as the pegasus left her behind. What happened next was the most confusing. The pegasus was consumed by bright light, while the earth pony was consumed by darkness. One side of the parchment was now pure white, the other solid black, then the light side faded to dark as well. The word ‘lost’ scratched itself in red on the parchment, the big, loopy letters morphing like oil on water.

        Daring cried out. She lunged forward and tore the parchment in two. The yellow pegasus looked up from her from the left piece, shaking her head in disapproval. The earth pony on the right hung her head, tears streaming down her face. “Rivers isn’t real!” Daring bellowed at the paper. She looked back the way she had come, then to the exit. Sunlight, or darkness? 

        She had to go back and get Rivers. She was real. Daring had given her some of her food for Celestia’s sake. She had touched her.

        Daring clasped her head in her hooves. “Are you insane?” she asked herself. “There’s no way you’re actually considering going back down there.” She examined her hooves. If she went back down, she may never come up again. She thought about going to get help. But nopony up there would help her. They were all terrified of this place, and for good reason. And as she had warned herself, if she left, she wouldn’t be able to find her way back. 

        She sat up tall. Rivers was real. “I can’t leave her.” She stood up and started determinedly down the tunnel, her back to the sunlight. 

        “I’m coming River’s,” she whispered. “Hang in there.”

> Part 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Daring walked silently down the tunnel, her hoofsteps the only sound in dark. She had lost all track of time. But, there was no need for time anymore. Day never faded to night and the same in reverse. Light was a rare delicacy only held by those worthy enough to possess it. Daring had earned her right to the lantern, and the caverns knew this. They let her keep the lantern, because she was worthy. 

        “Rivers?” Daring called. Her voice didn’t even echo—it drifted away to be swallowed by the walls, hardly even reaching her ears. She paid no attention to direction, neither to slope or even color of the walls. Once she had cared for direction, but the more one thought of it, the more confusing it became.

Rivers was somewhere in here, somewhere in this maze worse than that of being banished to the moon. Daring wouldn’t give up, she couldn’t. Rivers was real—she had to keep telling herself this. Shall she ever waver, the thought would strike itself back into her mind, giving her the fuel to continue on for whatever the real purpose of this was.

        “Daring!” Daring called into the darkness, receiving a loud echo. She had tried this trick multiple times. Her own name always echoed back, but Rivers’ wouldn’t.  

        “This is useless,” Daring said to herself.

        “No it’s not,” she replied. “Rivers is real. I’m going to save her.”

        Daring laughed at her ignorance. “What makes you think so? What if she was just the useless trifles of your mind when you were alone in dark? Oh I certainly hope you aren’t afraid of the dark.”

        Daring stomped her hoof. “I’m not afraid of the dark,” she replied in an aggravated tone.

        “Well you should be,” she hissed to herself. “Scary things happen in the dark.”

        Daring held up a hoof in a gesture of silence. “Quiet,” she warned. “I hear something.”

        She scoffed. “Well of course you do. You’re going insane.”

        “No I’m not. Now leave me alone.” Daring quietly crept forward, trying to ignore herself. 

        “Daring?” a light voice whispered in the darkness. 

        She froze. “Rivers?”

        “Rivers,” the voice whispered. Daring quickened the pace, making forward gain. “Where are you?”

        “In the dark,” the voice whispered softly. “I don’t like the dark.”

        “I’ll get you out of the dark!” Daring said frantically. She was almost galloping now. “Tell me where you are!”

        “Down here,” it replied. 

        Daring skidded to a stop, tossing her head around frantically, but seeing nothing. 

“I told you you were insane,” Daring said matter-of-factly to herself.

        “Shut up,” she growled. 

        A certain section of the floor stood out form the others. A small, sandy brown block lay embedded in the beige stone surrounding it. Daring brushed away the layer of dust to reveal the ancient writing on the block below. It read, ‘Trap.’

        “She’s down there,” Daring murmured. Slowly, she reached out a hoof and applied pressure to the stone. It sank into the floor and a dull clunk emitted from below her hooves.

        Daring lifted her hoof and struck the rock again; nothing happened. “One heck of a trap,” she scoffed. Daring realized what she had just done. “Why did I just try to set off a trap with my hooves?”

        “Because you’re insane,” she replied to herself. “You think you’d realize it by now.”

        Daring ignored her cynical self and hurriedly stepped away from the depressed stone. Just in time too. A large boulder dropped from the ceiling and struck the ground over the stone. It started to roll down the passage, away from her. 

        “There’s the boulder!” Daring exclaimed. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before there was some sort of temple stereotype.”

        Daring spared a glance at her lantern. The second pot of oil was half full. 

        “I’d say it’s half empty,” her cynical side said. 

        “I’ve got to follow that boulder,” Daring said determinedly. She had no idea why. But she had to follow it. If the boulder had been placed in the ceiling, then the ponies who had done it must have intended for it to go somewhere. She started off after the large round stone as it rolled slowly down the tunnel. The rough sound of stone on stone met her ears as she followed: a nice break from the unnerving silence. 

        Daring took the time to contradict herself. “I’m trying to look at things on the cheery side. I say the oil pot is half full.”

        “Hey,” Daring replied to herself defensively. “I’m trying to be cheery too. I’m just stating the facts.”

        She rolled her eyes. “How so?”

        Daring cleared her throat. “Well I used the term half empty because the oil is in the act of going down. If the pot were being filled with oil I would say half full. You see where the terminology comes in? If it’s in the act of filling it’s half full. If it’s being drained then it is half empty.”

        Daring had to admit, she did have a point. 

        The tunnel curved right and the descent steepened. The boulder picked up speed, forcing Daring to trot behind it. It continued to gain speed until Daring was galloping in its wake. After a minute, her endurance started to fade and her injured wing made itself noticed. 

        “Slow down boulder,” she gasped. 

        There was a large crash and the tiny world around her shook as the behemoth stone reached a T junction in the passage. Daring skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over her own hooves. Ahead of her was a large round hole in what had once been a wall. “Whoa,” she awed. “You alright boulder?”

        Daring gave her head a shake. “Stop it. Hold yourself together, Daring. Don’t lose it now.” Cautiously, she stepped forward, stepping carefully around the scattered rubble. She unlatched the lantern from her saddlebag and brandished it ahead of her, trying to illuminate the dark pathway created by the rolling stone. 

        Slowly, she crossed the threshold of fresh stone, having just been exposed to the air by the path of the boulder. 

        Daring spotted her boulder companion, resting against a far wall and broken in two. She looked around. This was a room. Daring rolled her eyes. “A room, real shocker.”

        She set down the lantern, stopping to observe the newly discovered room. The room she was in only spanned about ten by ten feet. Along the walls on all sides were skeletons, those of unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and dozens of them at that. Daring fought the urge to scream. Junk was scattered all about the room as well. Old canteens, scrolls, assorted bits of treasure, probably taken from the very chamber she had left what felt like so long ago. Daring turned over a compass with her hoof. The glass face was cracked but the dial was still intact. It spun in a fast circle. One thing was for sure, the compass was not pointing north. 

        A certain blue shape huddled in a corner caught her attention. Daring froze on the spot. “Rivers!” she cried. 

        Daring ran over to the mare. “Rivers, get up,” she insisted. The blue lump didn’t reply.

        Rivers didn’t move. Daring reached out and prodded the mare. “Rivers?” she examined the pony more closely, registering the gentle rise and fall of the mare’s flank. Rivers was definitely alive. Daring reached out and turned the mare over. 

        Rivers’ limp form rolled over to face her and Daring froze to the spot. Her mind locked up all at once and her mouth fell open in a silent scream of terror. A strangled squeak escaped her vocals and her heart swelled up in her throat. “Rivers?” she choked. 

        The mare had no eyes. Well, sort of. What was left of them could not be called eyes. To Daring’s immense relief, and horror, the blue mare slowly raised her head from the stone floor. After seeing her eyes, Daring was almost hoping the mare would be dead. What pony could go through that kind of agony?

        “Daring?” Rivers asked disbelievingly. Her voice rattled as if her vocal chords were made of stone. “Is that you?”
 
        Daring stooped close to the mare, trying her best to ignore the sickening sight. “What happened?” she asked lightly. 

        “You left me in the dark,” Rivers answered quietly. She choked back a sob. “You left me. Then they found me. And now I’m here. And now you’re here.”

        Daring blinked a tear from her eye. “What happened to your…” She hesitated. “What… what happened to your eyes?”

        Rivers sat up and turned her head towards her and Daring averted her gaze to the floor. “I took them out,” she replied. “I h-had to. I couldn’t stand the dark anymore. Every time I opened my eyes, all I saw was black.”

        Daring’s eyes trailed down to a rib bone on the floor. One end of the old bone was caked with blood. Daring balked. “Why would you—” 

        Rivers choked a heavy sob and stomped her hoof. “I had to! I could see them in the dark! They wanted me to see them!” She trailed off to a whisper. “So I took out my eyes. Now I can see whatever color I want. I think it, and it’s there. If I j-just imagine… that I’m not in the dark, it makes me feel better. B-but it’ll only last a while.”

        Daring shuddered. “But Rivers, you’ll never see anything ever again.”

        The mare shook her head vigorously. “It never mattered anyways.”

        Daring picked up her lantern and attached it to her saddlebag. “Come on, Rivers,” she instructed. “I’m getting you out of here.” She had better do it fast too. Rivers didn’t appear to be holding too well. She had gouged out her own eyes with a rib bone for Celestia’s sake. 

        Rivers’ ears perked excitedly. “Did you find a way out?”

        Daring nodded, then realized that Rivers couldn’t see the gesture. “Yeah,” she replied. “I think I can find my way back.”

        Rivers tilted her head. “Wait? You… you found a way out… And you came back to get me?”

        “I did,” Daring said. She reached back and rummaged through her saddlebag. 

        “Are you an absolute moron!?” Rivers scolded. “You weren’t supposed to come back! You should have never come back!”

        “Well I did,” She replied matter-of-factly. She pulled out a rope and tied a loop, then slipped it over her head. “I’m going to get you out.” She trotted over to Rivers and tied the other section of rope around the mare’s neck. 

        River hurriedly backpedaled. “What are you doing?” she asked fearfully. 

        “Tying us together so I don’t lose you again.” Daring finished the knot, giving Rivers enough slack to breathe, but not enough for the loop to slip over her head. 

        “I thought that was it,” Rivers said absently. “I gave up. I thought you had made it out.”

        Darning nuzzled the mare’s flank lightly. “Hold in there,” she said reassuringly. “Never give up.”

        Rivers cried openly. “Thank you Daring Do,” the gasped. “Thank you.”

        Daring started forward, towards the hole left by the boulder. She gave the rope a little jerk, signifying for Rivers to follow. “Don’t thank me yet. We aren’t out of this mess.”

        As they left the skeleton-filled room, the ground shook menacingly. “It doesn’t want us to leave,” Rivers murmured. She walked right beside Daring, her blue flank brushing Daring’s yellow. Daring assumed this was so that she could tell where they both were.

        Daring gasped as Rivers pressed against her injured wing. “What’s wrong?” Rivers asked tensely, voice reflecting fear of the worse. 

        “Walk on the other side of me. My wing hurts and I don’t want you bumping into it.”

        Rivers obediently switched sides. “What’s wrong with your wing?”

        Daring looked back at her wing; it didn’t look too good. “I broke it.” A sudden, terrifying thought struck her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the medallion. A broken-winged pegasus looked determinedly up at her from the golden mold. Daring’s jaw began to tremble. 

She didn’t want to put the talisman back in her pocket; she wanted to keep an eye on it. Instead, she slipped off her hat and hung the necklace around her neck, then perched her hat back on her head and started forward again.

        The golden talisman chilled her skin as they walked, never gaining warmth from her body. 

        Daring was on edge, more on edge than usual. As they continued on, there were no disruptions, no strange noises, nothing tried to fall on them. Even their hoofsteps seemed muffled. 

        After a while, the tunnel ahead started to lighten. Daring reached back and turned down the lantern to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Her mind did a somersault when the lantern was completely extinguished and she could still see. 

        “Yes!” she jeered, causing Rivers to jump. “Light! I see light!”

        Rivers’ perked her ears. “You do?” she said excitedly. 

        “Yes, come on!” Daring ran forward and tugged at the rope. She ran for the light, Rivers right on her tail, using the strand connecting the two as a guide. 

        The two mares skidded to a halt in a bright wash of white sunlight. Daring looked up. The source came from above them. In the ceiling was a square hole, roughly five feet all around. The narrow upward shaft stretched up at least a hundred feet before deep blue sky could be seen. 

        Daring allowed herself a moment of triumph. She thought about it. She was strong enough to lift both herself and Rivers to safety. Instinctively, Daring made to unfurl her wings. The right one flared up readily but the left stayed pinned to her side and sent a bolt of pain to her brain. She tried again, to the same effect.

Meekly, she looked backwards to find the problem. “Stupid!” Daring scolded herself. How could she have, even momentarily, forgotten that she had broken her wing?

        “What is it?” Rivers asked. 

        Daring gazed longingly up at the clear blue sky. “There’s no way out. I can see the light, but it’s through a hole in the roof.”

        Rivers hung her head. “I knew it was too good to be true.”

        “Come on,” Daring said glumly. Most of the determination had left her with the false victory. She re-lit the lantern and they set off again. 

        Hours, minutes, Daring couldn’t tell down here. All that she was aware of was the lantern at her flank and the mare by her side. That, and how hungry she was. She rummaged in her bag for the last sandwich, but to her dismay, it was nowhere to be found. The same was with her canteen. 

        “Great, now you’re losing things,” Daring scoffed.

        “I’m sorry,” she replied to herself. “I thought it was in my bag.”

        “Well because of that little slipup I’m going to go hungry,” Daring said angrily. “Thanks.”

        “Stop complaining,” she told herself pleadingly. 

        Rivers gave Daring a nudge. “Are you alright?” she asked tentatively. 

        Daring shook her head. “What?”

        “You were talking to yourself,” the sightless mare replied.

        Daring flushed, feeling guiltily glad that Rivers couldn’t see her do so. “Sorry, I’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

        Soon, they were well away from the downward spire of light and back into the swallowing darkness. Slowly, the tunnels around them began to fade and she noticed her light source was dying. Daring looked back to see the oil pot on her lantern had burned empty. 

        “Hold up a minute,” she told Rivers. “I’ve got to refill my lantern; it’s empty.”

        She set the lantern down and pulled the new oil pot from her saddlebag. She made the change as quickly as possible so as the wick didn’t extinguish without its source of fuel. The surrounding beige quickly came back into proportion as the lantern once again burned bright. 

        Hours, minutes, she didn’t know. All Daring did know was that they were walking. Soon, they arrived in what appeared to be a large room. This room led off to another, and from that one to another still. Daring found the change of scenery rather unnerving. After all the time spent traveling through narrow spaces, wide-walled rooms and decorative ceilings wasn’t the most comforting feeling. She had gotten used to the narrow passages. This was new, and from what she had experienced so far, anything new meant trouble. 

        “Are we still in the passageways?” Rivers asked.

        She shook her head and waited for the mare to reply. Daring silently scolded herself. “No,” she replied verbally. “We’re in some sort of maze of chambers now.”

        Rivers nodded. “Thought so. The sounds are more spaced apart. It takes longer for the echo to reach me.”

        “Have you been here before?” Daring took a left turn into a room containing a  golden sarcophagus. She paused in the stone archway. The room ahead had been tiled with gold. A small staircase led up to the sarcophagus. Daring paced forward slowly. “Sweet Celestia,” she murmured. This was it. This was the final resting place of the one these ponies had considered their goddess.

        The sarcophagus scared her. She had seen many, but she hadn’t ever seen one of the likes of this. It stood five feet tall, modeled with gold and silver. The figure upon the front was a smooth-coated pony of gold. it had no wings, no horn, nor eyes nor ears or nose. It’s mouth was a perfect circle of silver and bronze twisted in a swirl. It’s body was skinny and sleek, it’s hooves narrowing down to mere points. But of all the strange features about it, the most peculiar was it’s extra set of forelegs, right below the first pair. The extra set of forelegs clasped a crystal staff to its shrunken belly. the staff protruded a little higher than sarcophagus, the white crystal tip glowing with light that seemed to only produce darkness.      

        “Daring?” Rivers asked worriedly. “What do you see?”

        “It’s the chamber of their god,” she whispered, body trembling.  

        Rivers froze to the spot. “Don’t you dare go in there.” Her voice was layered with fear and knowing urgency.

        Daring gazed on in awe. It was hypnotizing, the mouth seemed to cast an optical illusion, as if it were moving. “But we’re already in here.”

        “What!?” Rivers protested loudly. She sank low to the ground, cowering. “This is bad, this is really bad. Ponies aren’t supposed to come here.” There was a heavy gust of wind that sent a thick cloud of dust into the air. “Are you insane!?” Rivers cried out in protest. The dust swirled around the room, dropping visibility to no more than a few feet. Rivers screamed as fell to her belly and was dragged away, towards the golden sarcophagus and the glowing crystal stone. 

        Daring lost sight of her. There was a heavy tug on the rope and she was almost thrown off balance. “Hey!” she yelled at the spot where Rivers had disappeared to. “Give her back!” Daring strained against the rope and managed to pull a few feet backwards, but then she was tugged forwards again and fought to not fall on her face. There was a short tug-of-war between Daring and the opposing force, neither one prevailing as the rope stretched in protest. Whatever had Rivers let go right as Daring went for a heavy tug and Rivers came flying at her out of the dust. Before Daring could dodge, Rivers hit her square in the face and the two mares tumbled to the ground.

        There was a crack and a tinkering of glass as Daring rolled onto her side. The yellow light of the lantern was suddenly extinguished. The wind stopped all at once and the room fell quiet once more. 

        “What happened?” Daring asked urgently. 

        Rivers trembled on top of the pegasus. “I-I don’t know. I c-couldn’t see it.”

        Daring sat up. “One second, the wind blew out my lantern.” She reached back to retrieve the lantern from her flank but found only the metal handle. Her stopped beating. Daring ran her hoof along the cool stone and quickly discovered shards of broken glass. Further investigation revealed a bent fixture and shattered oil pot.

        “No,” Daring stared down at the spot where she assumed the remnants of the lantern were. “No,” She scooped all the broken bits into a single pile and frantically tried to reassemble them. “No no no no. Please no!” The ground below her shook and silt rained from the roof. From very close, terrifyingly close, a low, triumphant guttural sound met her ears. 

She fell to the ground, sobbing, paralyzed with fear and despair. “Why!?” she bellowed. “What did I do?”

        “Daring!” Rivers insisted. “We have to get out of here, now!”

        “What does it matter? I’m going to die.”

        Rivers’ voice changed. “Why? What happened?”

        Daring brought her hoof down on the remaining shards of glass and metal, pulverizing them more. “The lantern broke,” she choked. “It’s gone. I’m in the dark. There’s no more light.”

        “Calm down,” Rivers said gently, placing a hoof on Daring’s flank.

        Daring rounded on her. “Don’t you tell me to calm down! Light doesn’t matter to you because you’re as blind as a bat! I need it!”

        “It’s okay,” Rivers soothed. Daring let herself be calmed by the mare. “We’ll be okay. I can lead us.”

        Daring looked around frantically. She blinked. There was no difference if her eyes were open or shut. “No, I’m going to get separated from you again. I just know it!”

        Rivers sighed. “Tell you what.” Daring felt as an ice-cold chain slipped around her neck. “I want you to hold on to this until we’re out. I would never leave without it. I’ll make sure we don’t get separated.”

        Daring ran a hoof over the new item hanging around her neck. It was made of metal, that much she could tell. It was also rectangular, and held the dimensions of about four inches by two.  “What is it?” 

        “It’s a case,” Rivers replied. “But don’t open it now. You won’t be able to see it. You have to wait until you’re outside. Okay?”

        She nodded, thankful for something to take her mind off the despair. “Okay... What’s in it?”

        Rivers stood up. “I can’t tell you that. It’s something you’re going to have to see.”

        Daring trembled. “Rivers?” she asked. “We’re going to make it, right?” Daring didn’t understand her fear. This whole time she had held strong, fought through whatever there was to face. She had tried her best to save Rivers. But now, something inside her had snapped. Her remaining sanity had extinguished like the final flame of the now-shattered lantern. Rivers was the strong one now. Without her, she was a goner.. 

        “I swear it by Celestia herself I will get you out,” Rivers said determinedly. “You came back for me when you were never supposed to. I owe it to you. I don’t care what happens to me, but we’ll make it. I promise.”

        Daring pressed close to the mare, not liking the way she felt cold to the touch. “What do you mean weren’t supposed to?”

        Rivers was quiet for a long time. The mare stepped away from Daring and nudged the pegasus to her hooves. 

        “Rivers?” Daring asked. “Did you hear me?”

        “Yeah,” she replied. “Come on, let’s go.” The mare started forward. Daring felt the rope tug at her neck and followed the blue mare through the darkness. 

        “How will you know the way?” Daring asked.

        “I just do,” came the sightless mare’s reply. 

        “But how can you?”

        “Look,” Rivers said glumly. “I’ve been down here for a lot longer than you know.”

        “Rivers…” Daring trailed off. There was a tug on the rope from the left and Daring turned to follow. “You’re scaring me. What are you talking about?” there was no reply. “Rivers!” she insisted. 

        The ground shook, and there were sounds in the tunnels below, terrible sounds, indescribable by any means possible. No thing could emanate a sound even remotely similar to what was coming from the tunnels. In a way, it sounded like the agonized moo of a cow mixed with the angered roar of a lion... nothing from this planet.

Daring bumped into the back of Rivers, who had stopped dead. 

        “What’s wrong?” Daring asked.

        Rivers’ voice shook with fear. “It knows I’m helping you. I’m not supposed to be helping you.”

        “Please tell me what you’re talking about,” Daring pleaded. “Rivers, I think I’m going mad.”

        Rivers started forward again. The rope jerked and Daring was forced onward. “We’ve got to hurry,” Rivers said urgently. “There isn’t much time!”

        The sound screamed from below again, this time much closer. “What is that?” Daring asked. They were now trotting swiftly through the dark.

        “I can not explain to you what it is, Daring,” Came Rivers’ voice. “If you know what it is then it means you are dead. The fact that you don’t know means you still have a fighting chance.”

        “Rivers what are you talking about?” They were almost running now, hooves thundering as the ground shook below them. “Do you know what it is?”

        The blue mare tugged the rope, drawing them even faster. While Daring had expected Rivers’ to speak, she had not expected the mare’s voice to sound within her very mind. She nearly faltered as Rivers’ voice rang clearly in her head. “Nopony truly knows what it is, but we have the closest idea. It dwells here. It chose the ponies here, long ago, and remains in their ruin. Long ago they tried to stop it, feared its power and hoped to destroy it before it could gain... They killed it, or so they thought, but it became their demise. It plagued their land and sickened their young. It fed from them, drew them into the temple and fed on their despair. Their spirits left here in earlier times, guided by their savior. Now we take their place, imprisoned for all eternity as it feeds on our very essence.”

“H-how are you doing that?” She asked in sheer panic.

“There are some things you do not know, Daring. Some things, nopony should ever know.”   

        Daring was losing track of her surroundings. Now, over the roaring and the sound of the tunnels shaking around them, she could hear hoofbeats, but it wasn’t just her and Rivers’. She could hear the sounds of many hooves, all thundering in beat of her own. 

        “Keep going!” a stallion’s voice said encouragingly in her head.

        “You’re almost there!” Cheered another, this one a mare with a heavy vintage accent. 

        She was now at a full gallop, the rope tied to her neck the only thing leading her on. A whole barrage of sounds filled her ears, a whole stampede of hoofs on stone, jeers, cheers and whoops, screams of joy and encouragement as she ran on. 

        One voice stood out over the rest. “Come on Daring!” It was Rivers. “Just a little further!”

        Daring noticed something. She could see the faint silhouette of the blue pony ahead of her. The tunnel was bathed in a dull, gray light. It was light, light on such a level of beauty and purity that the likes of she had never seen in her life. Her heart did a somersault in her chest at the sight of leafy green trees beyond the end of the tunnel.

        This tunnel was wider than the rest. It spanned a good ten feet in either direction.  Rivers led Daring directly down the center. Ponies ran on both sides of them, more than Daring could count. They whooped and jeered. Their smiling faces beamed with triumph and happiness, their hooves a chorus of freedom, a beautiful havoc. The sound of evil emanated from the tunnel behind, but not as loud as it had been before. Although, much, much more angry.  

        A brown stallion with a monocle tipped his hat to her, then fell back, fading into the darkness. Slowly, the ponies around her began to fade as the setting sun shone down the length of wide tunnel, lighting the stone a golden-orange. Their words of encouragement faded with them, until only Rivers was left at her side. Daring made to run the last ten feet out of the tunnel but Rivers slid to a stop. 

        The blue mare’s momentum carried her right up to the mouth of the tunnel. The sun cast its golden rays upon her face as she gazed longingly at it, reflecting in her haunted eyes.  

        “Come on!” Daring urged, running out into the sunlight to the rope’s end. “We made it!” She did a little prance, looking happily at Rivers. “We made it!”

        Rivers cast a proud look at Daring. Her eyes shone with a joy one would have never thought possible, but there was also sadness there. Daring gasped. The mare had her eyes back; and they weren’t multicolored anymore. Instead, they were both a deep, sea blue. 

        Rivers nodded towards the jungle beyond. “Get going, you made it.”

        Daring looked to Rivers, then the jungle beyond, then back to the Rivers. “Aren’t you coming?”

        Rivers shook her head sadly. “No, it’s just you from here.” A single tear welled up in her eye and ran down her face.

        Daring tugged on the rope but the mare didn’t budge. “Come on,” she urged desperately.. “Please, Rivers! Let’s go!” 

Daring gasped at the sight before her. The blue mare was slowly turning transparent, the stone behind her showing through. “No!” Daring cried. “No! You can’t.”

        “Don’t you see?” Rivers said. Sorrow filled every syllable as she spoke. “I’m not supposed to leave... I never left.”

        The rope around the mare’s neck fell through her body and landed limply on the stone. Daring fought her own brain, hoping her mind was lying to her. “No, Rivers. You can leave! Don’t go!” 

        Rivers smiled. “It’s okay. It was meant to be.” Her figure faded further until it was little more than a shadow. “In the case is a letter,” she said, her voice murky, as if spoken from behind a wall of sand. “Make sure it reaches the right place.”

        Daring watched in grief as the mare slowly faded away, the final wisp of her voice filling the peaceful air. “You were the one... Daring Do.”

> Epilogue 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Daring took a slow sip of tea, trying not to spill the hot liquid. Her hoof jittered as the returned the cup to the table.

        Sun shone down on her through the storefront window and she closed her eyes, enjoying its warmth.  

        “Your food will be ready in a moment, Miss Do,” the waiter said cheerfully. 

        Daring jumped and sent the cup skittering off the table. It hit the linoleum floor and shattered, sending a swash of brown liquid across the tile. “Don’t do that!” she scolded, taking a panicked breath. 

        The mare who had spoken hurried over and began to sweep up the broken porcelain. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

        Daring looked around the diner at the many ponies situated there. Every one of them had their gaze fixed on her. It was quiet enough to hear a pin stop. “No,” she replied quietly. “Everything’s fine.”

        The diner employee finished sweeping up the remnants of the shattered cup. “Would you like a new beverage?”

        Daring shook her head slowly. “No.”

        The waiter shot her a curious look and trotted away. 

        Daring propped her forehooves on the table and stared at the ring-stained wood. She didn’t like it; the color was too close to beige. She removed her hat and set it beside her and slowly, she removed the two items hanging around her neck. One was a golden medallion, the other a square silver case. 

        She set the two objects on the table in front of her and examined them. The talisman she had grabbed back in the… back there, gleamed brightly in the late morning sun. Molded on the front, was a peaceful-looking pegasus, lying on her belly, her head turned up towards the sun. Daring allowed herself a small smile. 

        A series of dark images ran through her mind and she grasped her head as a searing pain filled her skull. It passed as quickly as it had come leaving only with the dull irritation from her left wing. Daring looked back, just to make sure it was alright. Her wing was set and bandaged, and had been fitted in a sling. She would be able to fly again, eventually. 

        Daring turned her attention to the silver case. It was maybe only about half an inch thick. The other dimensions were four inches by two. A metal clasp held the two ends together. She wasn’t sure if she really wanted to open it. Her mind wandered away, gazing blankly at the smooth case. 

        She was back in the tunnels. A blue mare cowered in front of her. Gold, gold everywhere. Screams, anger, fear. Rocks. Running. A blue mare led her by a rope, pulling her towards the light. Light… 

        Daring thumped herself on the head with a hoof. She refocused on the small metal rectangle in front of her. With a readying breath, she undid the small clasp and slowly lifted one end. Her hoof brought it up to a ninety degree angle on the hinge. Gravity took over on the side she had lifted and it fell to the table with a faint clack. 

        An organized clutter of papers filled the inside of the case. Daring reached down and with her mouth, removed the top one. It was an archeologist’s degree. Rivers’ face could be seen on the front.

        Martson, Rivers
        Degree of archeological occupation.
        Issued, June 19th 1967.

        Daring couldn’t believe what she was reading. The document was over fifty years old. But the picture on the front was clearly Rivers. The mare smiled up from the yellowed piece of paper, young and happy. Pinned to the back of that was a picture of the blue mare in an embrace with a light blue filly, both smiling playfully at Daring from the paper. 

        “I’m so sorry,” Daring whispered.

        She set the license aside and looked at what remained in the case. There was a folded piece of parchment, sealed at the edges. On the front it read. 

        'To my little Stream'

        Daring set it aside. She would handle that one later. There was one more piece of parchment. Buried under a few folded papers on field notes, she found one last paper relevant.  

        'Daring'

        Slowly, she unfolded the piece of parchment, heart rate inclined for reasons unknown.

        'If you’re reading this, that means you made it out. But that also means I’m in pretty bad shape right about now. You were never supposed to come back. I did everything I could to get you to leave. Everything. You just had to be stubborn and make things difficult for both of us. But you’ve given us something else. Hope. We can stand up to it now. And although we were left here so long ago. We may just find a way out ourselves. Make sure you get that letter where it’s meant to go.'
        Rivers

        There was much smaller writing a little way below the inscribed name.

        p.s. I really wish I’d met you in high school. We could have been something. 

        Daring re-read the letter another seven times. Finally, she folded the parchment back up and returned it to the case, along with the other contents. 

        She left the diner, procuring a glare from the waiter who had been making his way to her table with her food. This mess wasn’t wrapped up yet.  


*              *              *

 
        Daring stood on the walkway leading up to the small cottage. She had managed to fly here on her own. She furled her wings, wincing at the little twinge of pain in her mostly-healed wing.  

        She had read every microfilm in every library this side of Canterlot to find this place. Rivers didn’t have much for family ties. There were times when Daring had doubted that the mare had any records at all. 

        She took a deep breath and started up the narrow path, her hooves clopping lightly on the cobbled stone. She tried to ignore the menacing sound, instead, focusing on the flowers that filled the decorative yard. She reached the door and paused. What if this wasn’t the right place? This was her last lead.

        Tentatively, Daring reached out a hoof and knocked three times. Waiting for the door, she examined the silver case hung around her neck. The chain was slightly longer than that of the golden medallion, so as the two never collided on her front. She never took the two decorations off, not even to sleep. 

        Daring had this silly thought she had conjured in her mind. She knew it was crazy but she couldn’t shake it. She felt as if the golden medallion of the explorer pegasus was her only anchor to the real world; and if she took it off she would find herself back in the tunnels. Ever since she had left the diner, she never took it off.

        The door cracked open and a cautious face peeked out. The chain remained bolted as the mare examined Daring. “Who is it?” the mare asked in an elderly voice, raspy from lack of use.  

        “My name is Daring Do,” she replied. She peered through the cracked door at the mare. Not much could be seen other than her muzzle. Her coat, from what Daring could tell, was light-blue.

        “What do you want?” she asked worriedly. “I don’t want to buy anything. Go away.” 

        The mare made to close the door but Daring stuck her hoof in the way. “Wait,” she said. “Is your name Cool Stream?”

        The mare froze. Her eyes widened in shock and she pushed Daring’s hoof out of the way. The door slammed. “Wait!” Daring protested. 

        She heard the sound of the chain being undone and the door swung open a moment later. The light blue mare stood fully in the doorway. Her coat was wrinkled with age and her face sagged, lacking any smile lines. Her mane may have once been some other color; but now it was a dull gray. “How do you know my name?” she asked suspiciously. 

        Daring took a step forward. The mare moved in the doorway, as if protecting her domain. “I’ve spent a long time looking for you,” Daring stated.

        The mare glared at Daring. “What do you want?”

        She hesitated. This was it. “Do you know a mare named Rivers Martson?”

        The old mare’s mouth opened but no sound came out. Instead, she nodded. She gulped heavily and took a deep breath. “She was my mother.”

        Daring nodded. “I have something for you.” She snapped open the silver case around her neck and produced the folded piece of parchment left for the mare. She passed it to the old mare, who took it absently. “She… wanted you to have this.”

        The mare read the name on the front. “This is her writing.” Her eyes began to tear up. “She left when I was just a filly. She left me.” The mare sat down hard and gazed at Daring. “Do you know how hard I looked for her!?” she sobbed. “My mother left me all alone! I had no father. One day, she just got up and left!”

        Daring gazed into the mare’s deep blue eyes. Hurt shone deep within their depths. “She didn’t leave.”

        The mare set the letter down and unfolded the parchment. 

        Daring couldn’t see the words the mare was reading; but they were having an effect on Rivers’ child. The mare blinked tears from her eyes that landed on the yellow parchment as she read. 

        After a moment, she looked up at Daring. “Thank you,” she said happily. “Thank you so much. Where did you find this?”

        Daring was quiet for a long time; but the mare didn’t speak or press. Instead she sat patiently and observed as the pegasus became lost in her own thoughts.  Finally, Daring came to. “Someplace… that I will never speak of again.”

        There was a soft wisp of air and the surrounding world froze. The bees stopped buzzing, the birds no longer chirped. The blue form of Rivers materialized next to Daring.

        Daring had no idea why, but she wasn’t surprised to see the mare. “You did it,” Rivers said cheerfully. This wasn’t the tired and worn Rivers she had met in the tunnels; her coat was a pretty blue and it shone magnificently in the sunlight. Her eyes sparkled with a mother’s joy that Daring had seen in the eyes of ponies before.    

        Daring nodded. “It was the least I could do. So you found your way out?”

        The blue mare gave Daring a friendly nuzzle. “We all did.”

        Daring returned the embrace. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

        Rivers gazed passionately at the elderly blue mare poised in the doorway, a light smile frozen on her face. “Trust me, I have.”

        Rivers’ form began to fade and world around them returned to life once more. In a moment, the blue mare was gone, the only remnants of her existence, memories and a few pictures inside a metal case. 

        That reminded Daring. She removed the letter to her from Rivers from the case, then she removed the case from around her neck and passed it to the elderly mare. “This was hers,” Daring stated. “You should have it.”

        The mare took it thankfully. “Would you like to come in? I have tea boiling,” she asked generously. 

        Daring shook her head. “No, there’s something I still need to do.”

        “Well, good luck,” the old pony replied. 

        Daring made a bow of farewell and turned to leave.  She stopped and turned back. “Oh, and one more thing,” she asked. “Do you know if there’s a place around here where I can buy explosives?”