Pride of the Pochteca [SteelEagle]

[Dunder]

The sun had long since fallen behind the mountains and the ponies of Tenochtitlan were flowing through the streets. Torchlight was in no short supply as groups of ponies trotted about the city to visit friends and family after a long day of work. Cemmoyāhua had just returned home from Equestria, but her plans to visit and feast with her friends had to be postponed, for her return home was quickly in peril.

 

Cemmoyāhua laid out a sheet of amatl, paper made of bark, onto the stone surface of her desk. A fire flickered atop her horn, illuminating her face and desk against the black night. Normally she would use the flat headed instrument to paint out vibrant glyphs, but this time she employed the use of two recently acquired treasures from Equestria: a ball point pen and a book on the Equestrian language. After all, the pony she was addressing was not only an Equestrian, but an important Equestrian in her own right.

 

"To who this may concern," A greeting that Cemmoyāhua memorized headed the letter.

 

"I am writing at you because I need your help. An artifact of great important has been stolen from our city of Tenochtitlan. Fortunately, we have discovered you and your renowned talents.
If you are interested visit the eastern temple on the bank on the 7th full moon of your year.

 

Please use discr-" CRACK

 

Her window sill was flushed with light when she craned her neck towards it. The crack was much too close to be from a pony using a street or canal and the entrance to her family's home was on the other side of the building. Despite her pyromancy, all that was visible beyond the window were the stars strewn across the sunless sky. She bolted to the window, sticking her head outside and scanning the landscape, the flame atop her horn now doubled in size. Still, she saw nopony, just the brick pathways and plants of her home's garden. Her already almond shaped eyes narrowed, scanning once again slowly across the corn, beans, and colorful flowers for any sign of pony.

The mare withdrew back into her chambers, glancing out the window once more before plopping her rump on the floor and turning back to the letter.

"-ecion. for your safety and mine."

With haste she exchanged the pen for something more familiar. A flat stone on a stick which she dipped in black ink to inscribe upon the paper a glyph of a two headed feathered serpent breathing fire.

While the ink set, she threw a white cloak around her shoulders and pulled it over her head. Her last trinket from Equestria was an envelope covered in stamps. Upon it she scribbled the address of the Daring-Do Fan-Club headquarters. Along with the address she wrote "To: Pathfinder."

She had wasted enough time. Now donning her cloak she trotted along the stone out to the street to get the letter on its journey to Equestria.

[SteelEagle]

 

Pathfinder was more than happy with how awesome the fan club had gotten recently. She chalked it up to the wide re-re-release of the early books in the Daring Do series. Now ponies were getting all sorts of cool insights into Yearling's book writing process and it was super cool! Or maybe it was the projector pictures. Some theaters ran them on demand still and the rumors of a Countess Coloratura backed production starting up energized all manner of ponies. Whatever the case, she had see a super duper rise in how many ponies had joined the club. Some might argue that since the majority were colts and fillies that she should change what fanfiction she read during meetings, but Pathfinder paid little heed. When it was time to read her slash fanfiction masterpiece, it was time for her to read and the little gals and gents could trot into the next room.

 

Besides, she'd paint their faces later. They all asked! She couldn't blame them. She did look exactly like Daring Do all day, every day. Some of the more impressionable types weren't entirely sure that she wasn't Daring Do, which was super flattering. It was also likely because of Pathfinder's own semi-storied adventure background. Over the years her retrieval of the Helm of Commander Hurricane and her involvement in the Staff of Fate had started to filter out. What hadn't was her involvement with EPIC, but no matter what, she had some honest to Celestia adventuring chops under her belt. She was a popular figure! She didn't mean to brag, but she was pretty amazing. As she told every filly and colt that asked though, all she was in the end was a pale imitation of Daring Do and they needed to consume every little bit of that most wonderful character they could.

 

And then they could go for adventures in any one of the twelve 'starter' adventure dungeons she knew of that were full of only the simplest traps (like poison arrows) and animals like Timberwolves which, really, come on, they were easy pickings. Every time she turned around it felt like that list vanished but she had plenty of copies. She didn't always have time to put them back up though. She was an exceptionally busy mare! She had dozens of adventures lined up, EPIC missions, and a wife back in Stalliongrad who needed excessive snuggling and loving on the weekend. She snuggled and cuddled and loved and tickled ad she was darn good with it, but it was almost as tiring as the adventuring was. Snowfall was a pretty passionate mare about many things- Pathfinder, snow, and her corporation. In that order to.

 

Which was just an explanation as to why Pathfinder was checking the mail outside of the fanclub early Monday after flying there super duper fast Sunday night after Snowy had gone to bed with a bit of soreness all over. She flipped through them- a few cease and desists that she tossed, some newsletter, building condemnations, etc- ahh, this one was cool. A letter! To her! From the basin! About adventure!

 

That was cool. It never took Pathfinder much to want to go someplace, but the promise of adventure always helped. She gathered her Grand Adventure Bag (trademark) and then waited and waited and waited and then waited and waited some more in place until the time was right. Then she hauled flank to the basin, hitting some caves along the way en route to her final destination. When she we arrived it was just a few minutes early, having hidden and skulked her way there. Because discretion was fun and cool and she practiced it where important during adventures.

She was there when all of a sudden...

[Dunder]

Crossing into a jungle was definitely a jarring experience for most ponies. Sucking in air became difficult with the humidity, the sense of personal space ebbed away with every low hanging tree branch and every insect that buzzed one's head. What would seem like an obstacle to most ponies, Cemmoyāhua saw as sheer beauty. Decades upon decades of organisms, each living their lives stretching their wings and burrowing their roots made the jungle into what it was. And how she loved it.

A.K. Yearling did justice to the beauty of the tenochtitlan basin in her book that Cemmoyāhua was flipping through. The passages of Daring-Do, defying all odds to beat up the baddies and get away just in the nick of time with the treasure. The unicorn had read the book cover to cover several times and was eager to find the pages where Daring Do beat the odds for they filled Cemmoyāhua with hope.

When the time came to meet Pathfinder, she took watch at the top of the temple. Her head was on a swivel as she made her rounds around the construction, scanning the ponies who were either visiting or taking the bridge to the center of the lake and the city itself. As usual, it was busy. Not only were common ponies as well as priests trotting up and down the temple steps, but so were hordes flowing in and out of the city, some carrying carts but most wearing dull colors or white. Which helped Cemmoyāhua because she knew her quarry would be wearing her green shirt and tan hat. At least, if every picture the unicorn ever saw of the Pathfinder was correct.

 

Also as usual, as the sun set and the 7th full moon of the year arose, the ponies had thinned to just groups of preists carrying torches to prepare for their night time rituals. Perfect time for Cemmoyāhua to meet her guest.

She descended from the temple and with haste made it to the biggest tree she could see. For a moment she appreciated the specimen, then she put her hoof and horn to the trunk and closed her eyes to concentrate. Shallow roots, all intertwined created a sensitive mat for a pony as skilled as Cemmoyāhua to pick up on. In a few moments she picked up, not too far in the jungle, of the 1-2-3-4 hoofbeats of a singular pony.

A smile came over the mare, as eagerness built up in her chest.

Quickly she made her way into the jungle to meet finally with the pony she waited so long for.

Bobbing and weaving over and under low hanging branches and vines, she made her way until she could see the other mare in the pale moonlight. Her horn sprouted a flame, just strong enough to illuminate the mare. "Hey! Pathfinder!" She greeted, a toothy smile on her face. "Please call me, Cemmoyāhua Tletl." She said, touching her hoof to her chest. Her accent was strange sounding, but also very light. "The pony who sent you the letter."

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder loved the jungle. It was so cool! Unlike the forests of Equestria which did their best to be safe and sound for travel, the basin didn't mess around. It was hot and oppressive with dozens of dangerous species of fauna and beast lurking around every corner. You were rarely allowed to sit there and think about it though- if you weren't moving then the heat would beat you down and force you into making bad decisions. Plus there were tribes who weren't fans of trespassers, plenty of them too. Dodging poison arrows and darts while ducking spears and stone axes made for an awesome exercise in the adventure senses, and it was one of the many reasons she always looked for a good reason to make her way up north to this hidden gem of Equestria.

The ponies were also pretty cool. They didn't scoff at her or call her nutso when she talked about ancient relics and forgotten ruins pulsating with power. Well, many of them didn't speak in a language she could respond in (she understood it and could read it, but knowing and doing were very different skillsets where language was concerned) but she was sure they understood her enthusiasm about it. She ever understood why some ponies didn't like this! It was so much fun! Adventure! Danger! New buddies and old enemies, sometimes new enemies and old buddies! Death defying activities to increase the share of good given to all, sublime adventures that made you feel like you could do anything. She guessed you might hate adventures if you hated fun or exploration but if you thought that way, you just might be a silly sally and needed to get your head screwed on straight!

In good time she was joined by the Basiner who called her there, which was good but also kinda disappointing. She had sorta hoped it was all a trap set by Durango Black and his henchstallions as she pulled in ever close to discovering the Secret of the Scorpion Star. Drats. Well, another adventure for another day- there was one about to unfold right in front of her! It was rare to see a jet black pony in Equestria proper, which made the super cool Basiner even more exotic and super cool. Her name was Cemmoyāhua Tletl and she had an adorable toothy smile that spoke to innocence, a desire for adventure, and a free trial of Pathfinder's “Daring Do Premiere Fan Fiction” Newsletter, first issue due out whenever the lawyers got tired of sending her cease and desists.

“Hey there, Cemmo!” Pathfinder said, waving as she hovered over and landed, getting closer to the local. “That letter sounded pretty awesome times. What's this all about?” She asked with infectious excitement, her mind racing with the possibilities. This was a land chockful of mystery and danger. Celestia knows what lay deep in the heart of the jungle and beating inside the breast of the wilderness. Whatever it was, ancient tomb, relic, manuscript, artifact, curse or trap, she was super duper excited to find out and have an awesome fun times adventure with awesome fun time locals, full of fun and friendship and even cool betrayals at the climax! Yay adventures!

[Dunder]

Immediately upon Pathfinder getting close enough, the maroon mare pulled the pegasus into a tight hug that was quickly released. "Hey... is for eating." She said and winked at the other, "I learned that joke in Manehattan. The carrot venders there are very kind." She said, covering a giggle. Though, her smile quickly faded as they both moved onto the matter at hoof. "I sent you the letter because of Daring-Do books." She responded, a hint of hurry accompanying her once cheerful tone. In a flash,  Cemmoyāhua had to decide how much information she was going to give out at this point. "I'm sure you know, nopony is better at retrieving artifacts than Daring Do. And A.K. Yearling told me that Daring-Do is just a character in a book, the neigh-sayer!" The unicorn spun around, her black tail whooshing air over the pegasus's nose. "So I sent a letter to the most Daring-Do pony in Equestria, you!" She said over her shoulder and started to trot off. "We should probably get out of here, the jungles are dangerous at night, you know!"

 

The mare glanced around at the trees, the flame atop her horn dragging behind and puffing at the quick movements. She trotted off towards the edge of the jungle, "I don't wish to bore you with details. I will tell you though." Her tone went solemn, almost sad, "Something very important and very powerful has been stolen from our city. In the wrong hooves, it could easily change the fate of our city or even Equestria... or anywhere it is used." As she emerged from the jungle, the city of Tenochtitlan stood stoic resting atop the lake. The buildings, temples and monuments casting a silhouette across the illuminated sky dotted with stars. "A few hundred years ago this place was a wasteland. I will do anything to stop that from happening again."

 

Up the temple, a series of flames could be seen erupting. Jetlike, alternating in a pattern up and down and around the temple. "Oh! I forgot to mention, there is a yearly ritual tonight. Perfect cover for a foreigner to be here." She said, happiness beginning to return, "And I think you're gonna love it!  At least, you would. I was not planning on going there." She scratched her chin, inflecting for a moment, "It's up to you, we have this bridge to get across to the center of the lake and city, anyway."

[SteelEagle]

 

Was she being attacked?! Attack hugged?! Nah, just hugged. That was cool! Pathfinder tried to only hug A.K. Yearling (despite the protests of security and lawyers) and her wife, but she'd accept this one. And it wasn't a hug borne of sorrow over the loss of an adventuring companion so it was a good change of pace for her. At least she wasn't shy. Pathfinder preferred her adventuring buddies to be energetic and really into the whole adventuring dealio. Some weren't because of safety or otherwise just being kinda boring, but at least Cemmy seemed on the level and with Pathfinder. She even tried humor! It was a super fun joke too, totally cool. Vendors had the best jokes! Pathfinder laughed. “That's a funny one! Vendors can be a hoot. 'Hay is for eating, bits are for buying, hey don't eat that',” she said, rolling her eyes and waving her hoof. “They're a real hoot!”

But back to the more exciting and substantive bits. Yeah, it was a bit weird that she was the most Daring Do pony in all of Equestria if only because, according to that Friendship Journal, one of the Elements of Harmony claimed that Daring Do was real. Of course that didn't much matter anymore because Pathfinder had claimed the title of world's most bestest adventurer pony. It was true, too: She doubted that Daring Do was really real, because if she was real and hadn't made an effort to contact her number one superfan, then Pathfinder would be sad. And Pathfinder was pretty much incapable of feeling sadness anymore. Numbness because of poison arrows in her flank was as close as she could come, and even that wasn't the same feeling. No matter what though, Pathfinder was flattered that she was so well known that ponies would contact her about adventuring possibilities! Adventuring infamy was the best infamy of all infamy.

 

A dangerous relic that could threaten this city, Equestria, the world- always fun when one of those was involved! “Sounds exciting enough for me. What is it? The Dread Eye? The Nails Across The World? The Egg of the World Serpent? The Secret of the Fire?” She asked, naming off various legendary artifacts she had yet to confirm the existence of. Hey, it was always a worthwhile attempt! “Thanks for telling me about this! I was starting to get b-o-r-e-d of adventures in mountains. Jungles are dangerous, hot, awesome, and super fun!” She added, hovering in pace with her trotting friend. “This land is very pretty. I'd hate it to see it change too. Probably would be less fun to adventure in as well," she continued, following her friend deeper in. “Besides, details are fun. They usually mean history and cool, fun methods of beating whatever it is we need to beat, huzzah!” She added excitedly, happy to be here. And win. And Adventure winning!

“Yeah, I think the ritual is called...Quecihallia, I think- honoring traders...or was it, sending off? I'm not sure. When I was reading up on important days here I was recovering from a head wound,” she knocked her skull around, “don't let anypony tell you that mind-zapping spells can't cause physical harm! Okay, so, whatcha need me to do for ya?”

 

 

[Dunder]

The wood groaned under the hooves, despite the actual bridge itself feeling sturdy. The sound of water flowing beneath the bridge along with moonlight glistening off the mostly still water gave Cemmoyāhua a sense of peace to think carefully. How much exactly was she going to tell Pathfinder? As much as she hated withholding information, it was a very sensitive subject. It was bad enough already for Cemmoyāhua to know. But Pathfinder's part in this whole ordeal was integral, and denying her of information may not be the best idea. Anyway, she made a good and humorous point as to why

 

"The closes it comes at your language is, 'The first bone.'" She said, her voice dropping low "The bone of a pony pulled from the underworld. To stop its power the first time cost many lives. How it came to our world, we do not know. All you will need to do is be like Daring-Do. Beat up the bad guys, help get the thing. You know, stuff like that." Her hushed tone continuing until she exclaimed, "Yes! It is surprising that you know." She said, impressed by Pathfinder's knowledge despite her admitted head-injury. She however did not comment on Pathfinder's accent. "A ritual to send off traders, wishing them luck on their journey. The brigands around here are usually no trouble for the caravan guards, but still it is a dangerous job." She said, her normal, happier tone returning.

"I think we will skip the festival for now. They will continue through the night, I am sure when our mission is complete we will be able to join in the fun!" She said as they crossed the bridge, taking a step onto the compacted dirt road of the city edges. "We will be heading to the warehouse where it should be. I would like to add that we should try to get it and get out. Oh!" She paused in her tracks, and looked up at the flying mare. "And if we find it, let me handle it! This is very important."

 

There were hardly any ponies in the streets. Those who were were making their way to the festivities, and of those only few stopped to take a glance at the oddly dressed Pathfinder. After making their way through the city, Cemmoyāhua paused and signaled for her companion to halt as well. Then the unicorn dove into a nearby canal, bobbing back up to peek over at the stone building. "This is it. A warehouse where taxes are kept. Unassuming, yet close to the festivites. Perfect place to get contraband to the caravans." She said, pointing a hoof at a pony-drawn wagon, "It seems like some of the taxes are going towards keeping the party going. Taxes being food and fuel and the like." She clarified.

"There's a passage on the other side where wagons enter and exit. There are some other entrances for ponies. Pegasi and earth-bound alike. No doubt they are guarded. What say you, Pathfinder? How would you get into such a place?"

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Pathfinder followed her friend deep ito the canal, playing her best at being Fishyfinder. She wasn't the best fish. She liked fishies though. They sometimes blew up with spikey bits and tried to ram you when you stole glowing orbs from their fishy spots. There weren't too many of them here now though. Even if ponies themselves didn't nomnom all of the fishies very commonly, few things traded as well to griffons as a pile of fish in a barrel. They paid super well for that sorta stuff. There were rumors that some of the basin tribes even sent criminals ad other bad ponies in trade as well to their meat-eating friends over the border. She wasn't sure what was worse: Griffons eating ponies or the disappointment of locals told her that was just a rumor. It was a close run thing. She would probably pick the first but not by much.

 

They soon found the warehouse. It looked well and truly boring, but that just meant it had juicy secrets on the inside. It was always the same! A quick glance told her everything she needed to know about the security. Door entrances were always guarded. She saw enough pegasi and saw the same entrances Cemmy told her about to think the sky entrances would be guarded as well. All of it was fairly standard. Assuming criminals also used it, she could expect some basic techno-security measures. Modern enough to be less cool than ancient ones, if she knew her criminal types. They always splurged on extra security measures which was a cool bit of irony because usual they had to get past such security measures to commit the crimes. She looked at it all for a few seconds before nodding, turning to her friend, and smiling.

 

“Well, warehouses still have bathrooms or troughs, usually a water tank for drinking water, maybe even an office. This means they need water flow from the outside. And judging by how this canal tastes, probably flows out here. And if it flows out, that means that it flows in, too. Probably a big one, splitting off to go to several residences and businesses. Follow me and take a deep breath!” She said to her friend, speaking as she rifled through her saddlebag. She pulled out two pairs of swimming glasses, hoofing one ovet to Cemmy before diving down below. The Canal wasn't the worst place ever to swim and she moved to the sides, looking and feeling for the proper intake. She felt a soft tug and saw a hole, about pony size for maintenance concerns, and dove in. The water pulled her in faster and she could simply relax.

 

It took about twenty seconds before she saw a series of new routes to go down. She made a quick calculation based on where they should be and shot her hoof out, pulling her towards one of them. If Cemmy had trouble, she would pull her as well towards safety. The tug was softer here, but still helped her make awesome time. Finally they came to a grate that stopped access into a large(r) open area- probably the tank for the building. Pathfinder looked at the connecting points of the grate- not well maintained. She re-positioned herself against the tug of the water, squeezing her way past and through Cemmy, and bucked the grate firmly but somewhat slowly, directed at the sides. After two or three times it gave in, and the mares could float to the top.

 

When Pathfinder reached the top, she took a huge gulp of air, her eyes seeing stars. That was fun! Next was getting out of the tank. For maintenance purposes, most tanks used a magitech sealed top that also helped tug the water through the pipe system. This was the case here it seemed. However, the flaw in this was that the top was always pulling against itself. It needed active weekly maintenance or else it could fall off and ruin water flow until fixed. If Pathfinder was lucky, basin ponies would be less stringent on maintenance concerns, or criminals wouldn't want to pay for it until it became a problem. She floated to the top and pressed her hoof against the top.

It moved. She strained for a second, turning herself in a counter-clockwise motion, as the top unsealed itself. It eventually fell off slowly with a mechanical kathang that reverberated across the basement of the warehouse.

 

“We're in!” Pathfinder whispered excitedly, jumping out of the tank and shaking herself free of the water like a dog.

[Dunder]

The goggle's band stretched as Cemmoyāhua pulled it over her face to cover her eyes. A couple blinks and a quick wipe with her fetlock and she smiled at Pathfinder, ready to dive.

 

Despite her affinity for fire magic, she was an excellent swimmer as most were who grew up surrounded by canals and a lake. With only some light stone jewelry to weigh her down, she glided through the water currents with ease. At least, until they got to the point where they could both be pulled where she went limp and let the water pull them along. The plan of entry was still Pathfinder's. So she followed along with her friend's instinct. Even though while faced with the gate blocking them from air, she suppressed her panic and remained calm as Pathfinder kicked the metal apart. Once, twice, the metal strained against the pounding hooves. With a powerful kick of her hindlegs she shot forth, aiming for the gate to help breath through to precious air.

As she braced for impact, instead she felt nothing except herself breaching the water "Aggghhh!" She groaned, coughing up some water. Her rapid breaths sucked in pretty rank air but still breathable nonetheless. After a pause she removed her goggles, "We're never doing that again." She looked up at Pathfinder pushed the tank open with relative ease. A common complaint of places owned by traders was that they cut corners on costs wherever they could. Cemmoyāhua never thought that this would come in her favor, however. Though her relief was quickly dashed when the lid swung open and crashed, the hinges that allowed it to open completely giving way and breaking under the weight of the lid.

 

The loud crash sent a jolt of fear down Cemmoyāhua's spine, pushing her to action. She hopped out of the cauldron-like contraption. Instead of shaking herself off, Cemmoyāhua's horn lit up. In a flash she was consumed in flame that vaporized off the water in a puff of steam but left the rest of herself untouched. Mid air-however. Something else clanked, and a rope zipped along the stone floor, barely missing Cemmoyāhua's airborne hooves and wrapping tightly around Pathfinder's legs. Just when Pathfinder was about to get strung up and dangled, Cemmoyāhua summoned a whip-like stream of super hot flame. The spell quickly sliced through the rope, still wrapping around Pathfinder's legs but she remained on the ground about to topple but Cemmoyāhua jumped on her back to stabilize the pegasus.

"We got to get out of here, we're gonna--" She was going to continue but a masculine voice cut her off.

She kicked the bound pathfinder behind a series of pipes, concealing herself but barely. Just before somepony rounded a corner and entered the small room, lantern in one wing and an obsidian spear in the other. "What are you doing here?" He asked in the language of the empire. "I'm just checking the pipes. And this water tank exploded down here!" Cemmoyāhua responded casually. Despite Cemmoyāhua outranking the young warrior in both class and warrior-rank, the lines between each so often blurred, she couldn't just tell him to flap-off due to the sensitivity of her mission.

He approached still, spear now held in his hoof, menacingly. "Nopony is supposed to be down here now! What are you doing here?!"

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder felt pretty foolish, but the sort of fun foolish. Sorta like how when you were a little tipsy after a night of carousing, but not so off your rocker as to not know what a fun and silly mistake you were making with something. She didn't drink very often but she did adventure often enough to know that feeling well enough. In this case, she should have seen the trap. She was a maestro of traps! But it was in just such a weird place. She had snuck into basements this way dozens of times. She had seen traps down there, sure, but placed like this right on her exit? There wasn't much she could do to avoid that, really. It just meant that this wasn't some random criminal organization doing bad deeds. There had to be somepony with some real experience in terms of adventuring on their payroll too because this was just a little too on point to be a big, fat coincidence.

She was cut free, but by the time any of this came to pass they were discovered by a guard. Again, a little too quickly. Even if you had somepony patrolling a large basement such as this for intruders, it should take a little longer than it did to arrive here. After all, there were lots of weird, cool noises to be found in the deeper and darkerer areas of the world. This includes basements! They weren't as cool as other places, but they were better than not being in a basement. As she was out of frame for the conversation, Cemmy did her level best to fool the guard. He wasn't buying it, mostly because so far everything about this place and how it was working was a bit unusual. And that meat good, because the usual could be dreadfully boring.

Pathfinder looked around. He didn't see her. That meant she got a plus two to all of her attack and damage rolls because of surprise! She fluttered to a flanking position while it was going down. Then, when it was all ready, she leaped out of the shadows silently. She lead in with a kick, which sent him spinning. She landed and leaped on top of his back as he spun and held him a headlock. He spun her around on his back a few times, unable to talk. He then pedaled backwards into a pipe, slamming Pathfinder into it a few times. If she wasn't used to getting hit in the head with boulders she might have cared!

After a while he slowed down and then passed out. Pathfinder had it applied a few seconds longer, then checked his pulse. “Yep, he'll be out long enough! Strange stuff so far. I've taken this path through loads of places like this. Usually there aren't traps so perfectly positioned and guards so on point. Hard to know to check this so quickly unless you have somepony on staff who adventures. Good job on the talking, by the way. He almost bought it! We should come up with an idea on who we are if we get caught like that again, thinking about it. So, who should we be?” She asked, not with the nervous energy of somepony in danger, but with the excitement of a roleplayer being joined by fellow nerds.

[Dunder]

Cemmoyāhua tried to rush in to help, but her attempt was thwarted quickly by the black spear-point of the guard. While being choked, he focused on the mare in front of him, and in his panic was unable to try to defend himself against the Pathfinder who would eventually make him see stars. On the ground, he was breathing and his heartbeat was steady. Useless now.

 

"If you were a criminal as much as our quarry, then you would spare no expense trying to protect yourself." The mare said, thinking that Pathfinder didn't truly grasp the scale of her work and how that related to the rest of the life in the Tenochtitlan basin. Oh well, she thought, at least she will be able to help us, even if she doesn't understand the importance. Cemmoyāhua reassured herself, firm in the idea that Pathfinder would lead the Tenochtitlan basin and the crown to her goals. That is, after all, the goal of a hero to make sure that the good guys win.

 

The Basiner decided to remind her Equestrian counterpart, "Remember that lives are at risk." She said, turning to head out the door where the guard came in. Since they were in the bowls of the facility, and the boss didn't bother putting much security down here, she gave her assessment. "So we are looking for a ceam-colored pony, who is older than the average stallion." She said, checking down the hallway to see nopony there. "It looks clear. I don't imagine there would be any more traps around here." She whispered, in case there were any more guards. But it all seemed clear.

 

"Huh. It seems that the guards were all sent to the top, where the easiest place to enter would be." She said, beginning to trot down the darkened hallway, lit by the occasional candle set into the wall. "If the rest of the staff are up there, maybe we could sneak past them and get to the main office, which should be on the third floor, overlooking the warehouse itself." She said, "Where I would be if I were an evil mustardmine."

[SteelEagle]

Cemmy seemed a lot more worried than Pathfinder could ever be. “Psssssh, calm down there. Of course lives are at risk. Lives are always at risk when the adventure is cool enough. Otherwise it wouldn't be much of an adventure!” She replied, half with excitement, half with admonishment. A necessary quirk for any real good adventure was true and honest peril. Often times this was just yourself. But everypony who was anypony knew that when the adventure was really and truly worthy of getting up out of the bed and the toasty blue socks your wife gave you, much more was at stake. And luckily Pathfinder was a heroine, and Cemmy was probably a heroine, and that meant they would win and everypony would be fine. “You need to read more books!” Pathfinder added joyfully, both as an informational aid and because it was the best way to learn how real adventures did their adventure thang. Still, at least she was focused. Better focused than airy, and she had adventured with lots of airy types! They blamed it on blood loss. She blamed it on lack of commitment to the adventuring arts.

They continued on. Cemmy didn't seem to understand how weird what happened was, if not unfun. Even if you were a crafty criminal expecting trouble it took somepony with exceptional experience and knowledge to lay a trap so perfectly. That wasn't a problem or a glitch however, it was a feature! A fun time could only really be had when your opponent as game and up for it. And this opponent sure was, it seemed. As they moved on, Cemmy noted a lack of guards. Pathfinder concurred. “Yeppers, no guards. I was shocked to even see one, let alone any more than that. Usually if a place is being used as a meeting spot or transitory location the baddies keep guards close to their fetlocks. Super especially if it is known as a place for deals like it! Others might know secret paths and ways, guard everything and you guard nothing. So they guard themselves, which is just like guarding nothing when two super cool adventure heroines are on their tail." Pathfinder said excitedly as she was super confident in the both of them if for no other reason than it had been full of good times so far. They had even swam, yay!

Darkened hallway. Cemmy asked where the fellow could be. Pathfinder put her thinking cap on. “Well, probably not in the shadows. If most of the guards are guarding him, that means he is probably gonna be in the center- ya know, just like thralls to a superworm. Concentric rings of protection. So...probably in the middle of the storage part of the warehouse, in some dark corner, but still in there. It's harder to protect yourself in an office because somepony can just sneak about and bust in really quickly. Hard to do that in the middle!” she said quietly, but happily. This was a good time. She approached the end of the dark hallway and slowly poked her head out.

What she saw was expected. Multiple levels of catwalks made of wood and stone, and a warehouse somewhat more spartan than expected. Guards patrolled the catwalks, a few of them with light spells up. A single large light orb was in the middle of the room, casting ominous shadows. It was great! She pulled her head back in. “Six guards I can see, probably more.”

[Dunder]

"Is not my fault Equestrian is hard to read!" She protested, jumping to her own defense. Memories of her frustration staring at the same characters, trying to memorize the specific sounds they made based on where they were and how they were written. Drawing pictographs was much more efficient once one became familiar with what each picture meant. No more pesky letters and the same word meaning 5 different things. "Maybe later you can give me some books to read! Though I might need some help reading them." She admitted.

 

When they reached the main warehouse, Cemmoyāhua  got low to the ground to stay as hidden as possible. "This stallion is not like the 'baddies' you are used to encountering. He is a clever and ambitious pony who is pushing his luck, not a... 'muh-fee-yo-so'. This is probably as many guards he could hire without drawing too much attention. But tonight they would be stretched thin, that's why we are here. He has a lot of inventory moving around that still needs to be protected." After scanning along the walkways and the interior of the room from their poor vantage point for a moment. Wooden boxes stacked on top of each other bound in rope and rivets should provide sufficient cover. she spoke up again, "We need to get to a higher vantage point. If we are where I think we are, his main office should be on the other side of the warehouse." She looked up, "Do you think you will be able to fly me up? Or will I have to climb on some boxes to get high enough? It would be no trouble, I have climbed trees much more challenging than some boxes."

 

Some of the boxes were stacked in a way that some acrobatic skills, one would be able to get to the second floor. Alternatively, there might be a ladder or staircase somewhere, but who could guess where and how well they would be watched.

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder clasped her hooves together in excitement. She had issues reading Equestrian? No problem! There were so many wonderful choices available and Pathfinder was cerrtain to have the right tonic for what ails you. "Well, we'll have so many choices! I can even share my fanfiction too! Do you like romance or comedy or action or something a bit more..." she made clicking noises with her tongue, "ya know, vroom vroom and all that, just tell me. I have all the answers!" she said excitedly, though still keeping her voice low enough for the pair to hide. She may have been an excitable sort but she was still the best adventurer there ever was except for the fictional variety, of which nopony could ever hold a candle to Daring Do!

Cemmy Wemmy made some observations that were likely correct but not that threatening. Criminals were by and large boring lots. Profit and ambition went hoof in hoof with being cowards, she found. Sure they would act all big and tough when they were surrounded by beefy guards with beefy names but remove them from their beefy wall of beefyness and they tended to be far less impressive. Still, she knew better than to underestimate them so she would try her best to estimate them correctly. And part of that was recon, which Cemmy wanted to do. "I can fly you up lickity split, no problem!" she said, half-lying. She wasn't the best flyer but she wasn't going to say that. She lifted Cemmy up and then started flying up, humming the 'Operation Improbable' theme from the stage show she saw. For free. From the rafters.

[Dunder]

'Cemmy' as she was known be being called  by the Equestrian, was clueless to the words' meanings. "Any Equestrian that's simple enough, I can read. I will like." She said, though she knew that the conversation thread should be cut soon. The room for superfluous conversation was getting thin, as they were getting closer to danger directly. The mare was lifted up by the pegasus with some efforts. Though, the overzealous pony seemed to lift her up too high too quickly, and the pyromancer kicked her hind legs, "Too quick!" She begged, pleading above the boxes of the warehouse.

 

Part of the fun was Pathfinder's excitability. And her little humming song was no exception, but now it only caused her comrade panic as they had flown too high in the warehouse.