Daring Do and the Search for the Winter Pearl

"The Ivory Temple"

Daring Do found herself inside the maze of the Ivory Temple of the White Tiger. She had been searching for the Winter Pearl,rumored to bring about an eternal winter that would cover the world, should its power ever be put to use.

As frightening as that was, Daring had no reason to worry, as she was going to recover the powerful artifact and put it in the Canterlot Museum to be admired by thousands. Not to mention under the watchful eye of the Canterlot guards and The Princesses themselves.

She wiped the sweat off of her brow, as the humidity of the rainforest was beginning to wear her down. She had been traveling for over twenty days, cutting through dense jungle, dealing with itchy mosquito bites and the occasional venomous snake, while following a worn map made one hundred years ago. She managed to stumble upon the map on an expedition to the sister temple, called The Ebony Temple of the Black Jaguar. How she acquired it was a story for another day.

She took the map out from under her pith helmet and looked it over. It showed her the path to the Ivory Temple and a drawing of it. To protect the treasure, the temple had been designed to be a maze, in order to trap and confuse robbers from stealing the powerful artifact. The map having fulfilled its purpose, she placed it back under her helmet. She scraped a sharp stone across the wall, sparks of cinders lighting a torch and causing the maze to light up as the fire traveled down lone torches throughout the maze. By the look of the torches, Daring Do concluded that she would only have a few hours to make it through the maze and out. If the torches went out before she was outside the temple, she would be wandering in the maze with no way out.

Tilting her helmet down, she began to determinedly traverse the maze. Every temple was designed to keep robbers out, but the ones who used to protect it had been given a way to enter and leave the temple at will. There were hidden signs to help the inhabitants

get through the maze safely. Her eyes narrowed as she looked for any type of markings etched on the walls, floor and ceiling. Daring looked around, but could see no obvious marks. She bit the inside of her cheek, knowing that for each minute she stared at the cracked covered walls, she had one less minute to successfully find the Pearl and get out of the temple. She opened the map up again, scanning it to see if she could find some sort of clue. Her eyes stopped at the middle of the map, which showed a crude drawing of the Pearl. Above it were two lines, indicating a swiping motion, and an upside down triangle contained the two lines. Her head shot up and turned to the torch. There, etched into the wood, were two slash marks. Wasting no time she galloped through the hallways, taking a left, a right, a right and a left again, constantly looking at the torches, whose flames only grew weaker with every minute. She knew that she was running out of time and she had to get the Pearl. With one final burst of adrenaline she raced down the last turn, finally entering the chamber of the infamous Winter Pearl.

It was embedded inside the chest of a black obsidian tiger, which was perched on a ivory pedestal in the middle of the room, surrounded by four white marble pillars that supported the ceiling. She knew if she took the Pearl, the pillars would crack and jeopardize the integrity of the structure.

The moonlight hit the smooth white stone through a small opening above; casting an eerie glow on the temple floor. In front of her was a single aisle of glossy ivory leading up to the Pearl. She stood at the entrance, which was a ledge at least twenty five feet in diameter. Surrounding it and the aisle was a black abyss hundreds of feet deep that easily spelled out death for those who didn't watch their steps. It was a good thing that she had wings.

She licked her lips in anticipation and took a step forward, only to be stopped by the familiar hiss of a certain pet cat. She whirled around and found herself face to face with the animal kingdom's most ferocious wild cats, plus a small kitten favored by her biggest enemy, Ahuizotl.

"Daring Do, what a surprise," he chuckled. Daring could practically see the sarcasm dripping from his mouth as he spoke.