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Organised by
RogerDodger
Word limit
400–750
Inconvenient Helpers
By the light of her lantern Daring Do squinted at the inscription. “Only the worthy shall pass.”
She shrugged. Why did those builders of old have to always make it easy by adding warnings before concealed traps? And this one was a classic, too; trapdoor over bottomless pit and invisible wire above at neck height. Just like in the Temple of the Dark Star, the Temple of Boiling Sands, the Temple of Infinite Motion — though she had to admit that last one had an interesting twist with it’s permanent gravity reversal spell.
She absentmindedly cut the wire and jumped over, taking care to avoid landing on the closest stone, the one that would crumble.
She looked back, smiling. That was the last one. Now to get that Golden Apple of Moj, whatever it was, and get out of the temple, and town, before any villains shows up.
Daring Do’s pacing made an angry staccato sound in her room at Dustvalle’s only hotel. What was the Manehattan Museum thinking, authorizing some random pony to organize a parade in honor of her discovery? And how did they even know where the temple was and when she would be exploring it?
She groaned. The party planner came with some lame excuse about detecting cheese, or sensing cheese; it made no sense anyway. And now if she left before the official, museum-sanctioned parade, she would be hearing about it from director Gleaming Glass until the next planetary conjunction. She wondered if she could get that party planner to, at least, make it a small parade.
Standing in front of Dustvalle’s bulletin board, Daring Do wanted to scream. She had hounded that Sandwich party planner until he agreed to not advertise the parade outside town, only to find out that he had hired to provide the fireworks some mare that called herself the Great and Powerful, and that she had already advertised the parade in all neighboring villages! “Come see Daring Do’s latest, most mysterious discovery! Enjoy the greatest fireworks show in Equestria!”
Daring Do’s temple was still sore from facehoofing. She might as well have sent invitations to Ahuizotl, Doctor Caballeron, and a number of her minor nemesis. Now she just had to guess which one would appear, because with her current luck, somepony, or someone, would certainly do.
Daring Do skipped around a corner just ahead of a tug, one of the Brine Cult, if she got his coat dye right. As she rebounded from a wall and landed on the thug’s head, she cursed under her breath. She had to ask who would show up; she had already seen tugs from the cults of Brine, Doom, Death, henchponies from Doctor Caballeron, and for fun even the mare ninjas from Lady Black Lotus.
She looked behind. The tugs must be fighting among themselves back in the main street, but it was only a matter of time before they decided to fight out after getting the Golden Apple. At least the artifact wasn’t magical, so it didn’t attract…
Ahuizotl was there, smiling and stroking his pussycat. This time he didn’t even waste time with monologues, he just sicced his hunting cats on Daring do.
Daring Do turned around with a groan, running back to the main street; if she could stop, she would facehoof. Again. How many times was it possible to jinx a single expedition, in a single day?
Daring Do floated above the cheetah’s pounce and rolled out of the way of the tiger. Perhaps she could lose her pursuers in the confusion that the main street would become; heh, fat chance.
Daring stood there, slack jawed, as that Cheese Sandwich guy rolled a giant wheel of cheese after a bunch of tugs. She took a step back to avoid being trampled by Lady Black Lotus, all of Ahuizotl’s cats pursuing her hair, which had been turned into a bed of catnip by that Great and Powerful Trixie. All the other enemies had already fled from the craziness.
Perhaps things were getting better.
Daring Do wanted to scream. Or to facehoof. Or both.
Her enemies had been chased away, but now that everypony knew that she was transporting an invaluable — and magical — artifact, no train, airship, boat, or chariot would take her; she would have to cross Equestria, nearly coast to coast, on her own. And those Trixie and Sandwich fellows insisted in coming along.
It would be a long trip home.
She shrugged. Why did those builders of old have to always make it easy by adding warnings before concealed traps? And this one was a classic, too; trapdoor over bottomless pit and invisible wire above at neck height. Just like in the Temple of the Dark Star, the Temple of Boiling Sands, the Temple of Infinite Motion — though she had to admit that last one had an interesting twist with it’s permanent gravity reversal spell.
She absentmindedly cut the wire and jumped over, taking care to avoid landing on the closest stone, the one that would crumble.
She looked back, smiling. That was the last one. Now to get that Golden Apple of Moj, whatever it was, and get out of the temple, and town, before any villains shows up.
Daring Do’s pacing made an angry staccato sound in her room at Dustvalle’s only hotel. What was the Manehattan Museum thinking, authorizing some random pony to organize a parade in honor of her discovery? And how did they even know where the temple was and when she would be exploring it?
She groaned. The party planner came with some lame excuse about detecting cheese, or sensing cheese; it made no sense anyway. And now if she left before the official, museum-sanctioned parade, she would be hearing about it from director Gleaming Glass until the next planetary conjunction. She wondered if she could get that party planner to, at least, make it a small parade.
Standing in front of Dustvalle’s bulletin board, Daring Do wanted to scream. She had hounded that Sandwich party planner until he agreed to not advertise the parade outside town, only to find out that he had hired to provide the fireworks some mare that called herself the Great and Powerful, and that she had already advertised the parade in all neighboring villages! “Come see Daring Do’s latest, most mysterious discovery! Enjoy the greatest fireworks show in Equestria!”
Daring Do’s temple was still sore from facehoofing. She might as well have sent invitations to Ahuizotl, Doctor Caballeron, and a number of her minor nemesis. Now she just had to guess which one would appear, because with her current luck, somepony, or someone, would certainly do.
Daring Do skipped around a corner just ahead of a tug, one of the Brine Cult, if she got his coat dye right. As she rebounded from a wall and landed on the thug’s head, she cursed under her breath. She had to ask who would show up; she had already seen tugs from the cults of Brine, Doom, Death, henchponies from Doctor Caballeron, and for fun even the mare ninjas from Lady Black Lotus.
She looked behind. The tugs must be fighting among themselves back in the main street, but it was only a matter of time before they decided to fight out after getting the Golden Apple. At least the artifact wasn’t magical, so it didn’t attract…
Ahuizotl was there, smiling and stroking his pussycat. This time he didn’t even waste time with monologues, he just sicced his hunting cats on Daring do.
Daring Do turned around with a groan, running back to the main street; if she could stop, she would facehoof. Again. How many times was it possible to jinx a single expedition, in a single day?
Daring Do floated above the cheetah’s pounce and rolled out of the way of the tiger. Perhaps she could lose her pursuers in the confusion that the main street would become; heh, fat chance.
Daring stood there, slack jawed, as that Cheese Sandwich guy rolled a giant wheel of cheese after a bunch of tugs. She took a step back to avoid being trampled by Lady Black Lotus, all of Ahuizotl’s cats pursuing her hair, which had been turned into a bed of catnip by that Great and Powerful Trixie. All the other enemies had already fled from the craziness.
Perhaps things were getting better.
Daring Do wanted to scream. Or to facehoof. Or both.
Her enemies had been chased away, but now that everypony knew that she was transporting an invaluable — and magical — artifact, no train, airship, boat, or chariot would take her; she would have to cross Equestria, nearly coast to coast, on her own. And those Trixie and Sandwich fellows insisted in coming along.
It would be a long trip home.