Daring Do In Mineshafted Part 2

 Daring sat down on a chair and pulled the lantern close as she pulled out her notebook.
   “Let's see,” she said as she traced her path.  “So I must have come out here and landed here.”
She studied the page.  “But that means this is the room where supposed secret corridor is.”  She looked up and looked around the room from her chair.  She pulled out her hanky again and blew softly into it several times, each time providing an abnormal amount of gunk, now mixed with dust.  She caringly pulled the hanky away and put it away as she got up.  She slowly walked around the room, with one hoof lightly trailing the wall.  She continued to sniff with a few light coughs as she cleared her throat.
After about forty minutes of exploring the room, Daring sat back down and slowly ate a granola bar from her bag.  Her eyes wandered as she looked back at the sorting bins beside the weigh scales.  She tilted her head to the side as she got up and walked over to it.
   She looked over at the bins of ore which were nicely organized into buckets of all the same weight.  Daring racked her brain, as she put a bucket on one of the oversized weigh scales.  Nothing of course happened. She continued to think.  Maybe if she moved the mine carts on to the scales, or maybe she missed something at the ravine.  Daring blew her nose again as she sniffled up some strings up mucus that escaped, then her eyes lit up.
   She grabbed a basket of ore and placed one on the left weigh scale.  She then placed thirteen ore baskets on the right weigh scale. She stepped back and listened.
   Click!
   She smiled.  It now made sense what the strange numbers at the entrance of the mine meant.  She looked at the two scales as if they were the entrance of the cave, and split the circular room as a pie mentally in her head.
   “1/13th,”  She told herself as she walked to the general area of the 13th slice of pie she split the room into.  She carefully felt around until she found a notch.  She pulled the notch and the wall was moveable.  She slid it open and it revealed a new corridor.
   “Yes!”  Grabbing her knapsack and lantern, she walked down the new pathway. “This part of the path isn't on the maps.  This is all unknown area.”  Daring thought to herself.  As she continued down the path, she could feel cool air.  “That is strange, we shouldn't be anywhere near the surface.” The hallway opened up to another small room with an opening towards the outside.  Surprised, Daring walked to the natural window out from the cave.  The view was sweeping and grand.  Though at a lower elevation, this isolated opening was on a sheer cliff face and have a view of mountains and forests in all directions.  It looked like a sea of clouds with mountains being floating islands atop the clouds.  Snowflakes were lightly falling giving it a surreal atmosphere.  Even Daring had to pause in awe at the beauty before her.
   She turned around and looked at the room before her.  Barrels, boxes, and containers sit before her.  Covered in over a hundred years of dust, these containers hadn't been touched in ages.  Daring put down her knapsack and slipped on some gloves and pulled out a small crowbar.  She inched the crowbar between a crack on one of the crates and pried with all her strength.  The lid cracked open and she peered inside.
   Wine bottles.  Wine and whiskey.  Daring pulled a bottle of wine out and read the date from another century.  “It would seem our miner's treasure was alcohol and fine wines.  This is a premium wine from back in the day.”  She turned the bottle and read the date, and examined the label to see if it was legitimate.  It was.  Daring opened a few more crates with all the same outcome.  She sat back against the wall and closed her eyes a moment to think.  “This probably isn't the treasure the museum was hoping for.” She rubbed her nose as she felt a tickle coming on.  She tried to sniff it in and away.

   “I bet these have aged well,” she murmured aloud and she shrugged and uncorked a bottle. The aroma of burnt sugar, fruit, and nuts tinged her nostrils.  She could even smell it through her sick and sticky nose.  She put the bottle to her lips and took a small sip.  Her eyes widened as the aroma and taste of penetrated all parts of her being.  Discernible and distinct flavors ran down her throat with  hues of butterscotch, marzipan, lemon, bitters, maple syrup, and a hint of hazelnut that had an aftertaste like no other wine she had ever tasted.  Even with her poorer sense of taste due to her cold, she could sense the sensation of this fine wine.  The taste didn't go away and stayed with her.  She took a few more sips as she closed her eyes.
   That sneeze she thought she had stopped a few minutes earlier came back, but she didn't care too much.  She was on a light buzz from the wine.  Her nostrils flared as she let out a powerful and uncovered sneeze before her.
   “Hheeeuuscchhuuuuu!”  The spray shot out ahead of her in the cold room and misted onto her tummy.  A string of mucus fluttered and landed on her chest.  She giggled to herself as another sneeze built up, and she let loose again.
   “Hhheeee-Ishhhhhhhooooohu!” Her head shot forward as a dangling thread of mucus danced from each nostrils, the left side dripped.  She laughed some more as she used her hood to lift the strands up as she leaned back and flicked them away.
   “Huh..... Ehhh.”  Daring lifted her head up and back as her nostrils grew, then quickly subsided.  The sneeze had tricked her and ran away.  Daring giggled as she looked down at the wine bottle with had somehow emptied to halfway.  She took another swig  as the world got warmer and more jiggly.
   “Ehh-WHOO!”  A rough sneeze took her by surprise as she put both her hooves up dropping the wine bottle.  It rolled just out of her reach.
   “C-c-come bhaa....haaack....haaa.”  Daring lifted her head back again and held a hoof to her dripping nose.  “Eeeesshhhhccceewww!  Huh,  Huh,  IiiiiAASSCHHheeww!”  Spit dribbled from her lips and mucus exploded from her nostrils flying in every direction.  A strand flung up and crested the tip of her snout.  She continued to giggle to herself as she leaned forward, face to the ground, and closed her eyes.
   Daring opened her eyes, and it hurt.  There was a pounding in her head as the room came into focus.  She quickly wrapped her arms around herself as the room was freezing cold and it was no longer bright.  Nighttime had befallen the world and only her kerosene lantern still burned providing a nice warming glow.  Daring held a hoof to one nostril and blew hard, as a stream of mucus blew out. She did the same with the other nostril, with an equally impressive flow blasting out.  Weary, she looked over and saw the wine bottle she had been drinking was almost completely empty now.
   “Ahhh... my head,” She rubbed her head, “And what time is it?”  Daring struggled but got up and walked to the cropping in the wall.  It was dark, and it appeared a fresh new snow had fallen from that storm.  It was too dark to see for sure, but the sun was clearly behind some clouds in the east, so morning was upon her, at least soon.  Daring walked back to the treasure.
   “Some treasure you turned out to be.”  She took the lid from the container she open and placed it on the ground like a sled.  She stepped on it and moved it back and forth.  She examined it, then thought to herself.
   Morning came and the much of the clouds broke free to a partly sunny day in the alpine wilds.  Daring's rump popped out from the natural window as she carefully placed a hoof on the near straight drop down.  She placed another hoof down and pulled out the lid and placed it on the fresh snow.  She pulled out a second lid tied to the first crate lid then pulled out a single container of alcoholic treasure.  Placing the treasure on top of the lid, she tied it firmly together.
   “Well, this will be my quota for stupid today.”  She whispered to herself as she stepped on the open lid, and carefully tested it's snow-worthiness.  She then tied what was left of the string around her waist to the treasure, as an extra precaution and then careful sat on her sled.
   Her nostrils flared and her eyes teared up as she looked down below.  Snow.  Lots of snow and a dangerously sharp angle.  She would have maybe a thousand feet before hitting the snow line, but she didn't have much of a choice since her entrance was now blocked by a rock slide.
   Saying a quick prayer to herself, she launched off, and raced down the mountainside.
   The snow sprayed around her sides and the tips of her ears quickly froze.  Daring Do opened her eyes and watched the mountainside quickly race around her.  The cold alpine air rushed against her cheeks. She turned back to check on the swirly alcoholic treasure behind her, and it was cooperating as they raced down the slope.  Squeezing her eyes shut, Daring Do questioned the sanity of this plan, as her stomach churned, and the fact that she probably wasn't over the feelings with her little drinking foray the night before.  But there was no turning back now.  She just hoped she would know how to stop without crushing her treasure and herself.  Lucky for her the answer came quickly as the slope began to fade as the snow became thicker and she carefully positioned her makeshift sled to slow down.  She knew she had better stop before entering the tree line.  After careful coaxing, the sled slowed down enough she could put her hoof down and it came to a sliding halt.  The treasure crate slid by her and yanked hard on her stomach.  Her eyes bulged as she was tossed off the sled and pulled with the heavy crate.  She rolled, then quickly tried to gain control and dug her hooves deep in the snow until the crate slowed down.  After coming to a halt, she gagged and coughed.  The yanking certainly took her by surprise.
   Daring looked down at the rope burn around her waist and stomach and rubbed it carefully with some cool snow as she pulled the crate back to her sled.  She sat down and the snow crunched beneath her.  Looking up, she made good distance in a short amount of time.  It sadly wouldn't be as easy on the way down, because she couldn't possibly avoid hitting all the trees.  She paused and listened to the sound of wind, the rare bird chirp, and the mountain soundtrack.  She sighed as the cold air began to get to her.  Daring shivered and she sniffed in a outpouring of mucus trying to escape down her nostrils.  With that sniff, a tickle formed deep within her nose.  She placed a hoof on her right nostril, blocking it, then pushed air out as forcefully as she could, blowing lots of gunk from her left nostril.  She switched sides and repeated as another blast of mucus shot out defacing the perfectly white snow.
   Grimacing, Daring covered up the snot rockets with some fresh snow and then patted her shoulders trying to warm up.  She needed someplace warm and she needed to take care of this cold.  Sadly there was no chance of that so high in the mountains.  She huddled up, trying to contain as much heat as possible when her ears perked up.  She heard a trickling noise, and it didn't seem too far away.  As a matter of fact, it was very close.  She got up and followed the noise, until she took a step onto some deep snow, or so she thought.  She fell in a few feet and slashed into some freezing cold glacier water.  A small creek had formed under some snow as was trickling down the mountainside.
   Daring yelped and jumped up with the water on her fur nearly freezing in the air.  The yelp echoed through the wilderness.  Daring paused as she listened.  She could still hear the few animals in the wilderness chattering away.  Relieved she shook her legs dry, or as dry as she could.  She climbed up from the small melt-water creek and took a big sniff in.  That tickle was still there and being stubborn.  She sniffed again, but she could tell something was different this time.  She was going to sneeze.  Her eyelids started to close as her head went back and then shot forward into her hoof.
   “Hhhuucchhhkktt!”  Her nostrils expanded as mucus splattered out onto her hoof.  She lifted her head back again and sneezed again into her hoof.
   “Hhhhheesscchhhkkkttt!” The tips of her nostrils were a rosy red as she rubbed her nose feverishly.  Each circular motion made a juicy squishing nose as it pushed the mucus in her nose around.  Even with that much massaging, the sneeze didn't leave, and Daring was going to sneeze again.
   “I better let this one go,” Daring thought.  Clearly stifling her sneezes wasn't fulfilling the wished of her nose.  Daring lowered her hood and let her body naturally take over.  Her eyelids fluttered as they closed, her jaw became slack, and her chest puffed out.  Her head raised back and hung there momentarily before her head shot forward in perfect motion with a forceful sneeze.  Her nostrils danced and spray beautifully swirled in the cold air in front of her.
   “IiieeeehhhhSSCCHOOOoooo!!!” Daring yelled as the sneeze shot out.  “Schooo, schooo, schooo,” the sneeze echoed.
   Daring quickly wiped some errant spit from her chin and dug her nostril deep into the white snow and blew hard.  Lifting up, trails of mucus hung like silly string from her nostrils, connecting to the ground.  She wiped it off and cleaned off her hooves with single pass throughs in the snow.  Suddenly, Daring's ears once again perked up.
   Silence.
   Daring quickly turned around and looked up at her sled and crate.  She quickly got up and ran towards it, slipping twice and then slapping her stomach onto the sled.  She aimed herself down the mountain and quickly strapped the treasure crate's rope around her waist again.  As she did this, further up the mountainside, the snow was cracking and shifting.  While it doubtful her sneeze caused it, the snow was moving and starting to gain speed as it began rolling down the mountainside.
   Daring, on her stomach, began paddling at the ground to move forward.  She quickly gained momentum as a ferocious rumble began to approach behind her.  She turned back and saw billowing white clouds behind her, as the ground began to shook.  An avalanche was headed straight towards her, and she had better haul butt if she wanted any chance of survival.
   The world was once again speeding by her, but cautiously, Daring had to slow down to make corners so she wouldn't hit trees.  That didn't slow down the avalanche as it hit 25, 35, 45, 55 miles per hour and gaining fast.  The treasure crate behind her slowed her down, because when she turned right, it still wanted to for forward, or if she turned left, it wanted to lumber downward.  Yanking with all her might, Daring took corners as swiftly as she could.  Finally coming to a point where the tree's became far to numerous to avoid, Daring yanked left, but the crate yanked her back and she was ripped right off her sled and tumbled at the mercy of the crate.  She clawed the snow, but it was no use as she was now sliding in whatever direction the treasure crate was going.
   Between mouthfuls of snow, She would spit.  She opened her eyes and looked up, and watched as the avalanche kept coming closer.  She looked down at the crate, which was thankfully following a small ravine and avoiding trees.  Frantically she watched for anything she could grab onto and crawl in for safety.  Luck was on her side this time, as she noticed a small rocky formation below a couple hundred feet away.  She gulped as she prepared to reach for it, knowing full well the crate was going to stretch her more then freshly made taffy.  She avalanche was nipping right on her, should could now feel it's debris and mist cloud, and it's roar was deafening.  Without any other chances, Daring reached out and reached for the rocks.  They crashed at full force upon her hooves as she curled up, hoping to slide into place beneath them.  Her breath was knocked out of her as the rope around her waist tugged and the crate kept racing down the mountain.  To Daring's dismay, she lost grip of the rock and then fell in a tumbling free-fall, being drug by the crate.  The avalanche cast a shadow over her, she closed her eyes, then it consumed her.
   Silence.
   Daring gasped and opened her eyes.  She say nothing but white.  Scared, she began digging not know which was was up.  She continued to claw in several directions with no avail until she remembered she had a rope tied around her waist.  In theory, she hoped the crate would have stayed near the top of the avalanche.  She began to dig in the direction of the crate until she hit it.  No way out.
   “F-f-f-f-fudge.”  Daring said as the air became thinner and her body became numb due to the freezing cold snow.  She couldn't help it, she began to close her eyes, and doze off.  It was cold, she was alone, and it was silent . . . no it wasn't silent.  What was that noise she heard.  Once again, the sound of crackling from water was heard.  With the last ounce of strength Daring had left, she dug in the direction of the water, until the snow from under her fell out and she dropped a good fifteen feet before slashing into another icy creek.
   That woke her up as she slashed out and clawed up onto a rock.  She shook herself and looked up.  The avalanche had gone over this small ravine, and she was trapped in a small pocket without snow.  But she also knew, if she followed the creek, it would take her down the mountain and lead her out of this ravine.
   Daring, absolutely freezing, cracked open the lid of the treasure crate and pulled out some whiskey to warm herself up.  She took a few swigs and capped it, then put it back into the crate.  It worked almost immediately and a fizzy sensation tickled her nose.  Without much buildup, Daring fired off a sneeze.
   “Huh,  IiiiiAASSCHHheeww!”  Snot ripped from her nose and slapped around her chin as another strand dangled from her other nostril.  She blew hard and the mucus flung off.  She took three really big sniffs and then began to follow the creek, dragging the crate.
   After a few minutes of walking, she came to a small cave opening.  She began to toss one by one, the alcohol out of the opening, since it was too small to pull out the whole crate.  She then broke apart the crate and through those pieces out of the cave too.  She then contorted her body to fit through the crevice.  Her bum and tail brushed up against the rock, as her chest ran along the upper edge.  She poked her head through and daintily pulled one leg out, then wiggled her butt through, almost getting stuck.  With the majority of her out, she gracefully allowed her remaining leg out of the cave and then got on her knees.  She placed all the bottles in a group and with the remaining pieces of the crate, she wrapped them into a smaller cylinder shape.  Forced to leave some behind, she had a smaller amount of treasure with her now, just enough that she could carry and hike down the rest of the mountain.
   In all the commotion, she had lost her makeshift sled, but she still had the rope tied to her waist.  She figured it might come in use later.
   Daring Do shook the tired from her legs and sniffed in the rolling mucus.  The mountainside was no longer as steep a slope as it was before, and she could hear much more wildlife.  She must be getting close to a near average elevation to find some sort of logging road.
   After several hours of hiking, the sky was beginning to get darker.  Daring was a walking popsicle.  She finally stopped in place and dropped to her knees and laid down.  She closed her eyes, and even though she was on cold snow, she was so numb to it, it actually felt warm.  She slid her backpack beside her and began to munch away at a granola bar.  She pulled out some tinder she had brought with her and positioned it to start a small fire.
   “I guess I am staying her for the night.”  She said to herself.  She noticed some tree's in particular area had been cut, so she figured she was in a logging camp's property now.  The fire sparked and began to grow in intensity, and the warmth radiating from it was like magic to Daring Do.  Sniffling and rubbing her nose, Daring let out a few forceful sneezes as she held her hooves to the flame.  Each time, the flame flickered.
   “HeeeIIIeeeeshhhoooww!  Heh . . . Eeesscchhew!”  Daring raised her head back, then forward. “Iiiieeeechoo!”  Her sneezes echoed, but she was low enough in elevation, she shouldn't have to worry about anymore avalanches.  The fire's smoke billowed upward into the sky as a light colored streak.  She threw some branches on the flame to make it darker, and hopefully attract some attention.  The smoke further teased Daring's nose, causing her to sneeze every few minutes.  Sometimes as singles, but often as a small combo chain that would make video game buffs jealous.
   “Hehh -Eetttchhhwwoooh!”  Daring blew out after each sneezing fit, never seeming to run out of mucus.  Luckily now, she could feel her hooves and her face.  She was starting to warm up, but then she heard a noise.  It sounded like an engine.  She quickly got up, ran out of the small clearing, and lowered herself behind some bushes.
   Within moments an old heavy duty four wheel drive truck came driving up.  It belched out diesel as it came to a halt.  Daring squinted her eyes, trying to make out who it was.  She was worried I might be an enemy trying to get this very treasure she had been trying to get.  She had lapsed, in that she forgot to put out the flame.  Two armed stallions jumped out of the pickup, but the driver remained inside the with engine running.
   Aiming his rifle at the fire, “Someone was here,” said a dark figured stallion.  Another figure grabbed some snow and put out the fire.  They both looked around as the driver seemed preoccupied in the cab with a phone.
   The diesel from the truck wandered around the clearing until it made's it way to Daring's sensitive and sick nose.  She coughed quietly, as a tickle burned deep inside her nose.  She held her hooves to her nose as she tried not to breath in, but she couldn't control it anymore.  Her nostrils flared beneath her hooves as she let out a curt sneeze.
   “Hecchhhxxuuutt!”
   The two armed figures paused as they listened.  One motioned the other towards him and pointed in Daring's direction.
   “Huummppxxcchhtt!”  Daring sneezed again, not realizing they were coming towards her because her eyes were closed.
   The two figures came closer until they were within a few feet of her.
   “Alright, who goes there?” Said one of them, as they lowered their rifle, but faced her.
   Daring didn't have much of a choice, she slowly got up, with hooves raised, and she stifled a sneeze.
   “Iicchhnnnxxtt!”  Two droplets of mucus escaped from her nose as she sneezed down towards her chest with her hooves up.
   The driver aimed a mirror light at her, and it lit up the situation.
   “Daring Do!”  One of the figures said as he strapped his rifle over his shoulder.  “Oh my gosh you guys, it's Daring Do!  Someone get her a towel.”
   She opened her eyes to notice three forest rangers surrounding her.  She wearily smiled as she stifled a sneeze again.
   “Ehhh . . . Heeppsschhtt!”  She jittered.
   Quickly one of the rangers handed her a towel and she wrapped herself, using an end of it to rub her nose.
   The rangers helped her into the truck as two sat in the bed.  They allowed her to sit inside and warm up as they headed back to the rangers station.
   After a few hours of being inside a warm rangers station, by a fire, and being served a hot meal, she conversed with them and soon said she would retire for the night.  In the morning they would drive her a few miles to town, and she would continue her journey back to the museum.  She had done her mission, and she had the coordinates logged.  She wasn't sure how she would tell the museum, that the secret treasure was just a bunch of alcohol in crates.  Maybe some rich collector of vintage drink would enjoy these in their collection? She wearily looked at her backpack propped up against the wall and her makeshift carrier for the treasure.  She closed her eyes as she sniffed.  It wasn't long before Daring closed her eyes, and not much longer before she fell asleep.  Just an average day for an adventuring pony named, Daring Do.